Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 0.1% Following 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 $191.68 and last traded at $192.19. Approximately 2,727,792 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 14,674,706 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.29.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0 %

The company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $184.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after buying an additional 259,213 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,688,743,000 after buying an additional 636,008 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.