Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 1.7% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares were down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $301.30 and last traded at $306.52. Approximately 34,330,724 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 36,623,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $311.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $310.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.57.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $320.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,380 shares of company stock worth $119,112,888 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.