Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the information services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th.

Alphabet has a payout ratio of 7.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Alphabet to earn $8.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.0%.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $193.31 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $192.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.