Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $164.88 and last traded at $165.34. 4,592,261 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 27,407,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.99.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at $355,743,153.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,280,514.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $182.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.14.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.