Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0.3% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $189.60 and last traded at $189.12. Approximately 12,044,912 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 27,513,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

The company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $173.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. The trade was a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.