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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares dropped 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $169.79 and last traded at $169.97. Approximately 9,081,154 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 35,321,793 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $159.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.8% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,814,959 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $280,190,000 after buying an additional 488,549 shares during the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% in the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 276,145 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $42,617,000 after acquiring an additional 26,456 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $317,357,000. GK Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the first quarter. GK Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,629 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. Finally, Intrua Financial LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.4% during the first quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 8,844 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.