Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 2.2% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) fell 2.2% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $168.91 and last traded at $169.80. 15,644,144 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 22,538,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.69.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 660 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $149.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a -- dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,852,868,000 after buying an additional 4,348,188 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $547,215,000 after buying an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.