Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 0.6% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 0.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $183.54 and last traded at $184.14. Approximately 8,753,546 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 27,029,359 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.