Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 0.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $164.35 and last traded at $164.34. 6,031,284 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 29,652,797 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.56.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 22,388 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,713,000 after purchasing an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 16.0% during the third quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 8,388 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Square Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 23,403 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,881,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.