Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 2.3% on Friday . The company traded as low as $170.12 and last traded at $169.92. 12,196,024 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 20,553,288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.98.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.
Read Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day moving average is $166.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.43.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its position in Alphabet by 10.2% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Alphabet Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
Before you consider Alphabet, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alphabet wasn't on the list.
While Alphabet currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Looking for the next FAANG stock before everyone has heard about it? Enter your email address to see which stocks MarketBeat analysts think might become the next trillion dollar tech company.
Get This Free Report
