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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.03 and its 200 day moving average is $170.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,385,565. The trade was a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 70.6% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,279,000 after buying an additional 41,880 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the period. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $382,000. Leelyn Smith LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 209.8% during the first quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 37,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,735,000 after purchasing an additional 25,730 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $4,635,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.