Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 1% – Here’s What Happened

by · The Markets Daily

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $305.56 and last traded at $309.29. 33,827,391 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 36,692,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $312.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.22.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $302,418.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value 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 trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,181 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 45,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,972,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 27,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,193,000 after acquiring an additional 3,822 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

(Get Free Report)

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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