Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $187.36 and last traded at $189.77. 7,504,154 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 21,874,508 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $182.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 154,387 shares of company stock worth $27,748,931. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.