Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.1% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price fell 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $183.63 and last traded at $185.06. 4,190,916 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 17,739,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,385,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,127,000 after buying an additional 400,007 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 161,558 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443 shares during the period. Portland Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC now owns 4,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $798,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Alphabet by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,607,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $496,584,000 after purchasing an additional 302,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Okabena Investment Services Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 21,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,011,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. 27.26% 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.