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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) dropped 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $168.75 and last traded at $170.49. Approximately 9,250,712 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 19,561,236 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.82.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $170.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.78. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $9,181,000. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $339,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $80,656,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 19,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 4,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 3,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.