Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 6.4% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 6.4% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $164.67 and last traded at $164.67. 19,456,451 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 27,028,113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 5.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $167.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.40.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 three months, insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.