Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.1% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. shares fell 1.1% to a trading price of $206.85, with a significant decline in trading volume (down 79% from the average).
• Analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on Alphabet, with an average target price of $215.19, following recent upgrades from several firms.
• The company reported a better-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $2.31, increasing revenue 13.8% year-over-year to $96.43 billion.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) traded down 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $206.45 and last traded at $206.85. 4,963,790 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 23,611,564 shares. The stock had previously closed at $209.16.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $188.33 and a 200-day moving average of $174.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimension Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 13,968 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,478,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 4,485 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $796,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Challenger Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Challenger Wealth Management now owns 1,335 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. REDW Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GDS Wealth Management grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% 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.

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