Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price fell 0.2% on Monday . The company traded as low as $166.03 and last traded at $166.86. 7,448,051 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 30,589,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $151.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.83. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.98, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total transaction of $119,784.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,164 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,665.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bfsg LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 14,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. One Day In July LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. One Day In July LLC now owns 5,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 7.6% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 56,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,989 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.