Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 2.4% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Alphabet's stock dropped 2.4% to $208.49, with trading volume significantly down at 6.7 million shares compared to an average of 23.6 million shares.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.
• Brokerage ratings are mixed, with five Strong Buy ratings, seventeen Buy ratings, six Hold ratings, and three Sell ratings, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) traded down 2.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $208.14 and last traded at $208.49. 6,721,409 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 23,557,691 shares. The stock had previously closed at $213.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued 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 price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

The firm has a market cap of $2.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $192.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $47,225,230. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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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