Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $178.50 and last traded at $176.86. 3,420,188 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 19,507,098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,510,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $263,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.9% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Business Bank boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the third quarter. Citizens Business Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is 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.