Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.6% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $192.00 and last traded at $190.51. 6,467,392 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 27,460,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities cut Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.44.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $180.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 280.0% in the second quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.