Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.6% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $169.35 and last traded at $166.52. Approximately 18,611,462 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 28,967,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.96.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. increased its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its position in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.