Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 2% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded down 2% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $154.91 and last traded at $155.37. 3,844,596 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 20,052,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.60.

Specifically, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $173.13 and a 200-day moving average of $165.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,109,000 after buying an additional 3,924 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 22,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,230,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 263,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,084,000 after acquiring an additional 21,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.