Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 3.7%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price dropped 3.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $173.57 and last traded at $176.84. Approximately 11,268,173 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 20,419,588 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $177.50.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $180.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,988 shares of company stock valued at $26,068,355 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after purchasing an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,101,040,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.