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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $174.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.