Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 0.5%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price was up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $164.25 and last traded at $163.82. Approximately 3,280,320 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 20,113,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.46. 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 company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at $339,713,977.55. 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 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after buying an additional 3,924 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its stake in Alphabet by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 9,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after buying an additional 4,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $577,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.