Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.9% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price dropped 1.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $152.21 and last traded at $153.13. Approximately 8,457,888 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 18,834,959 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $179.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 88,665 shares of company stock valued at $16,198,310 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently 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.