Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 3.7%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares fell 3.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $173.57 and last traded at $176.84. 11,268,173 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 20,419,588 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $177.50.

Alphabet Stock Down 5.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,988 shares of company stock valued at $26,068,355 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shira Ridge Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 15,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.