Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 2.3% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price fell 2.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $309.88 and last traded at $313.70. 24,010,793 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 23,838,455 shares. The stock had previously closed at $321.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $310.54.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $281.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.37.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock worth $62,127,158. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after buying an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,298,572,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after purchasing an additional 5,182,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 73.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,388,775,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154,929 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.