Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $207.71, but opened at $193.10. Alphabet shares last traded at $191.30, with a volume of 9,910,151 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 7.1 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $191.88 and its 200-day moving average is $175.91. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 100,029 shares of company stock worth $18,462,883. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 287.9% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.