Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1% on Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) fell 1% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $153.83 and last traded at $154.23. 7,706,160 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 19,425,162 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.75.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

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 business's 50 day simple moving average is $160.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 17 Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 149.1% during the 1st quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,562 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,806,000 after acquiring an additional 6,921 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 43,014 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 16,095 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 16,043 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,506,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 53.9% during the 1st quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 11,238 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares during the last quarter. 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.