Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 1.1% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price traded down 1.1% on Monday . The company traded as low as $243.20 and last traded at $244.36. 23,033,865 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 23,865,432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $247.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.35.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.53.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 257,866 shares of company stock worth $52,363,610. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the second quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471 shares during the last quarter. TradeWell Securities LLC. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 15.7% in the second quarter. TradeWell Securities LLC. now owns 14,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 1,917 shares during the period. National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $219,000. CacheTech Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the second quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 2,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $414,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Adams Wealth Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the second quarter. Adams Wealth Management now owns 2,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $414,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 27.26% 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.