Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.2% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $167.16 and last traded at $168.95. 14,257,244 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 27,161,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.23.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.47 and its 200 day moving average is $170.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.