Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0.1% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price was up 0.1% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $165.00 and last traded at $165.20. Approximately 7,713,905 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 17,786,701 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $184.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.