Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sets New 52-Week Low After Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Saturday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $147.54 and last traded at $147.74, with a volume of 39777547 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $152.63.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.