Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 1.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $157.16 and last traded at $159.35. Approximately 5,247,227 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 19,184,696 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.06.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet
Alphabet Price Performance
The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50 day moving average is $163.26 and its 200-day moving average is $177.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Alphabet Company Profile
(
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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.
Further Reading
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