Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.1% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price was down 0.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $191.92 and last traded at $192.57. Approximately 2,907,613 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 19,660,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,588 shares of company stock valued at $24,473,081 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors 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.