Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 4.9% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price fell 4.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $165.74 and last traded at $166.93. 8,013,282 shares changed hands 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.