Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2.2% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded down 2.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $173.78 and last traded at $174.27. 4,344,129 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 26,996,641 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $166.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This trade represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.