Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1% – What’s Next?

by · The Cerbat Gem

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report)’s stock price fell 1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $188.51 and last traded at $189.30. 17,430,271 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 27,460,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Check Out Our Latest Report on GOOGL

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $178.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 137,588 shares of company stock worth $24,473,081 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,101,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 398,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $72,545,000 after purchasing an additional 17,110 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Alphabet

(Get Free Report)

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.

See Also