Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.7% - Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) dropped 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $157.52 and last traded at $159.55. Approximately 11,573,697 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 28,233,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.46.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $160.78 and a 200 day moving average of $175.37.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,053 shares of company stock worth $25,339,647. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Austin Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,596 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 31,447 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,863,000 after buying an additional 2,776 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 12.7% in the first quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,249 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Draper Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Draper Asset Management LLC now owns 95,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,763,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 67,495 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,437,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.