Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 3.2% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 3.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $296.12 and last traded at $296.72. 43,242,083 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 18% from the average session volume of 36,699,770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $306.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $365.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. CICC Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price target (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.18.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,750,916.64. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 190,250 shares of company stock valued at $52,387,348 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% during the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after buying an additional 2,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $448,684,000 after buying an additional 56,295 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is 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.