Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.3% Higher

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price shot up 0.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $165.12 and last traded at $164.36. 3,288,234 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 27,435,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.35.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $162.83 and its 200 day moving average is $166.68. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 177,605 shares of company stock valued at $29,277,931 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the first 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 during the period. 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 valued at $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in Alphabet by 39,754.9% during 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 period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,288,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170,229 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by 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.