Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 1.3% - What's Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 1.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $177.55 and last traded at $178.20. 7,109,677 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 21,158,480 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.55.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.38.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50-day moving average is $169.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.40.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hutchinson Capital Management CA increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 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.