Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 3.9% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 3.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $150.39 and last traded at $150.93. 14,587,594 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 27,338,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third 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 lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.