Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 9.6% Following Dividend Announcement

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares were up 9.6% during trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $170.97. Approximately 33,969,957 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 30,255,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after buying an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,908,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.