Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2.3% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) dropped 2.3% on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $167.08 and last traded at $168.01. Approximately 15,179,054 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 30,434,826 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.95.

Specifically, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 over the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $148.36 and a 200-day moving average of $141.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,857,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.