Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.1% – Here’s Why

by · The Markets Daily

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report)’s stock price fell 1.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $180.51 and last traded at $181.30. 3,433,997 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 19,533,064 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.50. The company has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 241,752 shares of company stock worth $40,156,829. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

(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.

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