Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0.9%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $165.50 and last traded at $164.53. 3,871,856 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 20,076,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.29.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $164.93 and a 200-day moving average of $167.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 203,367 shares of company stock valued at $34,079,756 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.