Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 0.2% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $160.76 and last traded at $161.55. 5,034,151 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 27,586,813 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.85.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,590,960. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson started coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $163.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 143.7% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,170,229 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.