Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $176.39 and last traded at $175.74. 3,234,980 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 19,441,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.31.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.76. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew 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 buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.