Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 2% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) dropped 2% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $177.16 and last traded at $177.49. Approximately 6,270,897 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 17,362,342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $193.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Chokshi & Queen Wealth Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,274,000. Garde Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 48,752 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,284,000 after buying an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $322,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $488,000. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $445,000. Hedge funds and other 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.