Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $160.76 and last traded at $161.55. Approximately 5,034,151 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 27,586,813 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 180,167 shares of company stock valued at $29,762,606 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 143.7% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,201,000 after buying an additional 4,170,229 shares during the last quarter. 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.