Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.9%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares were down 0.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $167.66 and last traded at $171.03. Approximately 11,569,507 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 27,831,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 122,388 shares of company stock valued at $21,497,609 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Alphabet

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.