Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 2.1% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Alphabet's stock price fell by 2.1% to $236.57, with a trading volume of over 32 million shares, down 10% from its average volume.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Alphabet, with Melius Research raising it from $220 to $255 and Oppenheimer increasing their estimate to $270, noting general positive sentiment among analysts.
• Alphabet has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, reported quarterly earnings of $2.31 EPS, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 2.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $235.84 and last traded at $236.57. 32,429,364 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 36,201,184 shares. The stock had previously closed at $241.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Melius Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $245.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. 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 analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total value of $229,863.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,171,312.80. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This trade represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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