Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 2.1% – Time to Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was down 2.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $175.15 and last traded at $175.44. Approximately 10,431,056 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 27,036,832 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % 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, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in 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.