Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.2% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) dropped 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $168.75 and last traded at $170.49. Approximately 9,250,712 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 19,561,236 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.82.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. 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.