Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 3.9% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded down 3.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $150.39 and last traded at $150.93. 14,587,594 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 27,338,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $175.15 and its 200-day moving average is $176.68. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exeter Financial LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 18.3% in the first quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 137,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 64,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,015,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 68,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,610,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Finally, Agate Pass Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 51,798 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,010,000 after acquiring an additional 3,830 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.