Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $185.33 and last traded at $185.96. 5,926,579 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 17,484,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $194.56 and its 200 day moving average is $176.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 96,001 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the last quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,147 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. E&G Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. E&G Advisors LP now owns 7,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,331,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 3,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.