Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.7% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price was down 0.7% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $171.03 and last traded at $173.49. Approximately 7,066,335 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 17,635,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

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’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,309 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,490 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.