Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 0.1% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price dropped 0.1% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $172.53 and last traded at $172.79. Approximately 4,628,239 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 19,482,955 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.98.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $170.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shira Ridge Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 15,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.