Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were down 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $171.03 and last traded at $171.86. Approximately 4,924,498 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 18,557,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $191.13 and a 200 day moving average of $177.93. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.65, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after buying an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.3% in the third quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 632 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC now owns 1,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 9,903,537 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,655,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,075,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $346,938,000 after purchasing an additional 11,458 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.