Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) dropped 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $193.75 and last traded at $195.83. Approximately 4,314,574 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 14,168,385 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.71.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.52.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, 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 sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.