Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $165.55 and last traded at $166.43. 5,572,467 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 17,801,087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.