Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.6% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price was up 1.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $203.84 and last traded at $200.68. Approximately 5,869,727 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 15,193,589 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.55.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its 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%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $40,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by 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.