Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 0.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $190.31 and last traded at $193.18. 10,319,378 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 21,472,471 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.08.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $182.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.