Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.9%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded down 0.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $167.66 and last traded at $171.03. 11,569,507 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 27,831,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $160.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 122,388 shares of company stock valued at $21,497,609. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.