Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $147.82 and last traded at $149.00. 7,242,398 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 31,383,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna lifted 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. Wedbush lifted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.48.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 279,659 shares of company stock valued at $39,460,310 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.