Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 2.4% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded up 2.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $196.35 and last traded at $195.65. 3,911,429 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 14,702,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet 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 owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Wendell David Associates Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 4,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 80,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,359,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,254,222 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $238,854,000 after buying an additional 56,567 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,063,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $773,866,000 after acquiring an additional 691,840 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.