Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.8% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price dropped 0.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $164.22 and last traded at $164.89. Approximately 11,378,083 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 29,014,833 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $158.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.