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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $155.05 and last traded at $155.76. Approximately 4,540,193 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 22,268,205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.33.

Specifically, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock valued at $32,835,757 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $146.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Advisors Network Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 82 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 252 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Somerville Kurt F boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 118 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,301,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.