Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 2.1%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price rose 2.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $163.79 and last traded at $163.10. Approximately 6,576,290 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 27,546,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.08.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $165.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $165.13.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,010,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is 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.