Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 0.5% - What's Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shares were down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $191.60 and last traded at $194.40. Approximately 5,801,970 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 14,335,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $183.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.8% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,375,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.