Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.1% - Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) was down 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $170.91 and last traded at $171.11. Approximately 5,361,901 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 22,886,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.96.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

The firm's 50-day moving average price is $160.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. 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.