Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.7% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Alphabet's stock price fell 1.7% to $247.13, with trading volume down 42% compared to average sessions.
• Analyst ratings show a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $235.33, but with some downgrades and upgrades from various firms.
• The company recently reported strong quarterly earnings, beating estimates with $2.31 earnings per share and $96.43 billion in revenue, up 13.8% year-over-year.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 1.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $246.81 and last traded at $247.13. 13,693,263 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 23,740,332 shares. The stock had previously closed at $251.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.33.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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