Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.1% Higher

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares rose 0.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $160.22 and last traded at $159.45. Approximately 4,373,477 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 27,555,559 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during 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 previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 180,167 shares of company stock valued at $30,139,931 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,310,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.