Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0.2% Higher

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price was up 0.2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $166.38 and last traded at $165.57. Approximately 2,867,444 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 20,026,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.29.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 200,105 shares of company stock valued at $33,479,581. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the 1st quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.