Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.2% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was down 1.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $189.58 and last traded at $190.44. Approximately 14,334,462 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 19,706,879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $180.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total value of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 154,519 shares of company stock worth $27,734,316. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $33,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.