Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 2.5% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 2.5% on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $154.93 and last traded at $162.52. 17,267,961 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 27,936,578 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.66.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total transaction of $252,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $738,039.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 99,808 shares of company stock valued at $17,732,125. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.69. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parcion Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,013,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 6,695 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Better Money Decisions LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,699 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 24,155 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,690 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 121,976 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,039,000 after buying an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.