Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.8% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $172.18 and last traded at $172.39. 6,359,831 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 27,027,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $165.61 and a 200 day moving average of $170.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given 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 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 16,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,770,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 43,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,142,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Valued Retirements Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $435,000. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 118.9% during the third quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,532 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,078,000 after purchasing an additional 6,807 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is 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.