Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 4.8% - What's Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) traded down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $160.71 and last traded at $157.27. 5,175,954 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 19,117,370 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Down 7.7 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $161.97 and a 200 day moving average of $177.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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