Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 1.9% – Here’s What Happened

by · The Markets Daily

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) dropped 1.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $175.48 and last traded at $175.49. Approximately 6,859,020 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 27,007,768 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.88.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

View Our Latest Report on Alphabet

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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