Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.1% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded up 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $162.79 and last traded at $162.97. 10,723,535 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 25,786,968 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given 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 $210.59.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,481 shares during the last quarter. 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.