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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was down 0.1% 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 changed hands during 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 Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $169.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $339,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,656,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in Alphabet by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 19,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 4,648 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 48.4% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 3,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 161,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,065,000 after buying an additional 4,017 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.