Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.5% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 0.5% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $153.43 and last traded at $154.16. 7,059,406 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 30,165,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.86.

Specifically, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,033,907. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.64.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $145.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 19,849 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,996,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 6,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,493 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 48,914 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,383,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. 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.