Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) were down 0.7% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $171.03 and last traded at $173.49. Approximately 7,066,335 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 17,635,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $192.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% 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.