Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 2.7% Following Strong Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $207.77 and last traded at $208.15. 6,007,736 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 15,733,622 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.64.

The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Legacy Private Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the third quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 7,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 5,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897 shares in the last quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 1,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 26,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,418,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 188,097 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,448,000 after purchasing an additional 4,237 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $192.33 and a 200 day moving average of $176.03.

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.