Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 6.4% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 6.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $164.67 and last traded at $164.67. 19,456,451 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 27,028,113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.98.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average is $167.64 and its 200-day moving average is $170.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.