Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.5% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was down 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $148.50 and last traded at $151.08. Approximately 32,930,996 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 28,296,298 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.33.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.74.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $165.14 and a 200-day moving average of $175.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.