Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 0.7% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $184.71 and last traded at $185.09. Approximately 5,727,867 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 27,717,811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $191.90 and its 200-day moving average is $174.76. The company has a market capitalization of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,193,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $197,949,000 after acquiring an additional 74,225 shares during the period. Marotta Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% in the third quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 2,724 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 23,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,942,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wiser Wealth Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Wiser Wealth Management Inc now owns 2,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Alphabet

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.