Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.1% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price dropped 0.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $191.63 and last traded at $192.76. Approximately 4,058,288 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 19,830,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 178,257 shares of company stock valued at $31,243,187. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. IMS Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 33,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,664,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank grew its position in Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 55,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 26,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,508,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $962,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $9,181,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.