Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares dropped 1.4% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $150.90 and last traded at $153.36. Approximately 19,461,666 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 19,413,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $167.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 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.