Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.1% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $171.14 and last traded at $170.82. 12,433,371 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 19,605,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $169.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.84. The company has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 3,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 161,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,065,000 after buying an additional 4,017 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 276,388 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,209,000 after acquiring an additional 23,624 shares in the last quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $365,000. Finally, Destination Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 28,234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.