Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 3.9% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) were down 3.9% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $152.18 and last traded at $152.68. Approximately 9,855,207 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 18,879,610 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.65.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $177.04 and its 200-day moving average is $178.30.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.