Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 4.9% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded down 4.9% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $165.74 and last traded at $166.93. 8,013,282 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 18,560,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $189.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.