Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1% - Here's Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $166.68 and last traded at $168.61. 10,693,839 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 20,221,803 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.0%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $161.29 and a 200 day moving average of $176.14. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invst LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 11,924 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,863,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.9% in the first quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,940 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 46,462 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,259,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,584 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,215,000 after buying an additional 8,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5,585.7% in the 1st quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 398 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.