Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2.8%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price fell 2.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $150.87 and last traded at $154.66. 16,231,333 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 29,681,627 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.13.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $147.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chico Wealth RIA acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Summit Global Investments lifted its stake in Alphabet by 67.7% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 241,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,598,000 after buying an additional 97,466 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 18.1% in the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% in the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 5,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, David J Yvars Group lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. David J Yvars Group now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.