Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.6% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 0.6% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $184.60 and last traded at $185.94. Approximately 3,112,496 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 17,329,260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.13.

Specifically, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $194.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. 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.