Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $152.20 and last traded at $152.61. 10,362,023 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 28,648,361 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.28.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $158.93 and a 200-day moving average of $175.18. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is 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.