Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.9% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price dropped 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $173.79 and last traded at $174.02. Approximately 5,164,306 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 19,508,557 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.4 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $166.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 360.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,848 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 86,040 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,100,000 after purchasing an additional 13,756 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $215,000. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 45,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,960,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.