Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1% - Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 1% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $161.75 and last traded at $162.19. Approximately 6,871,514 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 19,263,966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $162.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.12. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.