Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was down 0.2% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $160.76 and last traded at $161.55. Approximately 5,034,151 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 27,586,813 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.85.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,590,960. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. TD Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $163.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,310,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,429,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after purchasing an additional 597,756 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.