Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.4% - Here's Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares fell 1.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $176.52 and last traded at $177.05. 9,272,896 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 31,506,971 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.53.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho cut their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $203.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $169.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the period. 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.