Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 2.5% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGGet Free Report)’s share price fell 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $374.30 and last traded at $376.43. 46,830,434 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 126% from the average session volume of 20,747,203 shares. The stock had previously closed at $386.12.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.65.

Read Our Latest Report on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $341.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $323.94.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 76.2% in the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,865,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,886,000 after purchasing an additional 806,681 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $658,000. Financial Advisors Network Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 7,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

Further Reading

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