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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price dropped 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $190.42 and last traded at $190.90. Approximately 4,095,828 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 21,477,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.01.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $32,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is 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.