Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.1% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price was down 0.1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $191.63 and last traded at $192.76. Approximately 4,058,288 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 19,830,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $176.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.84.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,257 shares of company stock valued at $31,243,187 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after buying an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.