Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 1.3% - Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 1.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $178.78 and last traded at $179.28. 5,745,966 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 27,021,248 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $164.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 241,752 shares of company stock valued at $40,156,829 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,064,073 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.

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