Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6 %

Alphabet stock traded up $5.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $206.38. 37,593,455 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,590,535. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $189.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 122,529 shares of company stock worth $22,453,483. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.