Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.2% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price traded down 1.2% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $159.23 and last traded at $159.55. 4,062,797 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 19,357,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.47.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $168.53 and its 200-day moving average is $177.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $927,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,184,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,384,039,000 after acquiring an additional 704,875 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.