Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.5% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded down 0.5% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $153.43 and last traded at $154.16. 7,059,406 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 30,165,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.86.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.14, for a total value of $3,198,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,400,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $341,163,148.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,033,907 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Alphabet from $174.00 to $172.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.64.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $145.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. DC Investments Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $114,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $225,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC now owns 99 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $281,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% 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.