Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.1%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 0.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $165.49 and last traded at $163.71. 4,554,805 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 27,602,969 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Eight 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,838,460. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 180,167 shares of company stock valued at $29,762,606 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 23.7% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 50,059 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,118,000 after purchasing an additional 9,582 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the second quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 62,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705 shares during the period. American Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% in the second quarter. American Trust now owns 9,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the period. Summit Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, Brightwater Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $426,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.