Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.2% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was down 0.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $168.02 and last traded at $168.79. Approximately 3,579,414 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 27,147,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial upped 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, DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $168.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.