Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.7% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares dropped 1.7% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $163.90 and last traded at $164.83. Approximately 11,385,550 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 27,136,639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.63.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $167.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.