Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.4% on Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $155.05 and last traded at $155.76. 4,540,193 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 22,268,205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.33.

Specifically, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock worth $32,835,757. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $146.95 and its 200-day moving average is $141.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Totem Point Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 22.0% in the first quarter. Totem Point Management LLC now owns 3,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,000 after buying an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Somerville Kurt F lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the first quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 118 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $2,564,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 53.2% during the first quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 144 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 3,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,412,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% 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.