Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 4% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price traded up 4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $195.21 and last traded at $193.97. 15,023,651 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 19,524,467 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.53.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Pivotal Research increased their target price 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, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.4 %

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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $171.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.80. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,385,565. This trade represents a 2.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at $339,713,977.55. This trade represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,923 shares of company stock valued at $34,244,676 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $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.