Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 1%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares fell 1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $166.37 and last traded at $166.82. 3,934,783 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 19,990,861 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Pivotal Research began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.51. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 193,725 shares of company stock worth $31,933,031 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.