Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2.4% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was down 2.4% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $311.22 and last traded at $313.72. Approximately 33,400,639 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 36,748,965 shares. The stock had previously closed at $321.27.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total value of $32,401.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 11,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,721,580. This represents a 7.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price objective on Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $279.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.