Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.4%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 1.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $163.05 and last traded at $164.29. Approximately 14,306,385 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 30,613,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Argus increased their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $150.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Meritage Group LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% during the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 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.