Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.9%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $164.99 and last traded at $163.88. Approximately 4,878,649 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 20,013,100 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.0 %

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $167.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,024,679,000 after acquiring an additional 813,428 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.