Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 0.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $150.17 and last traded at $150.54. 4,346,434 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 30,841,227 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $155.48.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $143.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total transaction of $3,347,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,378 shares of company stock worth $35,461,377. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $19,800,000. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $244,000. Napatree Capital LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $467,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 94.6% during the 4th quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. now owns 1,090 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Finally, Ariston Services Group bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $734,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.