Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.2% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $172.60 and last traded at $173.86. Approximately 4,742,038 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 18,547,594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.21.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $190.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.89. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.