Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.5% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price dropped 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $153.43 and last traded at $154.16. Approximately 7,059,406 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 30,165,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.86.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 228,839 shares of company stock valued at $32,835,757 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.64.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.