Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.9% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded down 0.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $146.15 and last traded at $149.36. 17,464,857 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 27,443,529 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’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 value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exeter Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 137,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 64,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,015,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 68,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Finally, Agate Pass Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the first quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 51,798 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,010,000 after buying an additional 3,830 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.