Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.8% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc.'s stock price decreased by 1.8% on Wednesday, closing at $247.83, with a trading volume that was 29% lower than the average session volume.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Alphabet, with a target price of $230.35 and multiple price increase forecasts from various analysts.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 1.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $247.22 and last traded at $247.83. 16,881,148 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 23,923,537 shares. The stock had previously closed at $252.34.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Finally, Lake Street Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.35.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day moving average is $212.86 and its 200 day moving average is $182.73. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after buying an additional 2,428,266 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after buying an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

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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