Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price dropped 0.7% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $193.75 and last traded at $195.39. Approximately 14,302,055 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 16,233,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $183.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $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 forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,361,837.80. This represents a 1.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.