Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.6% - Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $167.16 and last traded at $168.26. 3,923,660 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 27,113,102 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $168.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after acquiring an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.