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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price fell 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $193.75 and last traded at $195.39. 14,302,055 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 16,233,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $184.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after buying an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,254,000 after acquiring an additional 57,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently 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.