Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 3.1% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price fell 3.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $297.45 and last traded at $298.06. 27,364,220 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 23,828,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $307.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $313.04.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $286.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at $3,721,580. This trade represents a 7.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 193,028 shares of company stock valued at $53,188,134 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Keel Point LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 33,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,040,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Mirabella Financial Services LLP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.0% during the third quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 14,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,507,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Farmers National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% during the third quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 45,029 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,967,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 178.2% during the 3rd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,395 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares during the period. Finally, Painted Porch Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.4% in the 3rd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 3,818 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,243 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.