Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.7% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price was down 1.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $161.12 and last traded at $162.86. Approximately 7,099,097 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 19,809,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Pivotal Research began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $184.11.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Unigestion Holding SA increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 11,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 17,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 46,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,542,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 366,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $51,676,000 after purchasing an additional 15,905 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% 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.