Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 0.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $162.81 and last traded at $162.67. Approximately 3,851,208 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 27,557,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.29.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. DA Davidson began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $163.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,590,960. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 180,867 shares of company stock worth $29,878,106 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth 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 lifted its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in 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 worth $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 143.7% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,288,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170,229 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.