Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.8% on Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) fell 1.8% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $164.80 and last traded at $165.96. 4,167,126 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 18,862,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.00.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors 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.