Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded down 0.2% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $165.94 and last traded at $166.88. 6,073,080 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 20,012,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.19.

Specifically, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Pivotal Research initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $163.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the 1st quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.