Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.4% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) fell 0.4% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $165.55 and last traded at $166.43. 5,572,467 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 17,801,087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.14.

Specifically, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $181.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $812,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $206,000. Prostatis Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 2,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Nestegg Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,659,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.