Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.5% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price traded down 0.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $185.33 and last traded at $185.96. 5,926,579 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 17,484,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $194.35 and a 200 day moving average of $177.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, 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 value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % 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, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 116,609 shares of company stock valued at $21,809,990 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.