Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 2.4% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were down 2.4% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $148.97 and last traded at $149.64. Approximately 3,751,669 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 21,143,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.36.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.38.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $165.77 and a 200 day moving average of $177.32. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CV Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. CV Advisors LLC now owns 11,669 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,789,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 31,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,942,000 after purchasing an additional 4,062 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 2,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 37.2% during the first quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,832 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,473,000 after buying an additional 4,291 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.