Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Raises Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.22 per share by the information services provider on Monday, June 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is a 4.8% increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Alphabet has a payout ratio of 8.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Alphabet to earn $14.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.0%.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $352.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $327.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore increased their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.