Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 1.1% on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $152.20 and last traded at $152.61. 10,362,023 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 28,648,361 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.28.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. 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.