Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.4%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 0.4% on Friday . The company traded as high as $163.21 and last traded at $162.50. Approximately 3,291,807 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 27,520,994 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $173.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.65. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,565 shares of company stock worth $26,823,893 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creekside Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $995,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $739,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 171.8% in the second quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 4,868 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 3,077 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $2,659,000. Finally, Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $446,000. 40.03% 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.