Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) dropped 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $186.56 and last traded at $186.94. Approximately 3,544,957 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 17,893,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $328,018,000. Sfmg LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 74,592 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,654 shares during the last quarter. Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $1,683,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,001,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $571,641,000 after purchasing an additional 325,352 shares during the period. Finally, Plancorp LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 11,268 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.