Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 0.2% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares fell 0.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $174.93 and last traded at $177.09. 6,536,077 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 17,466,754 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $193.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.