Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 3.9% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price shot up 3.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $291.46 and last traded at $290.59. 19,335,773 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 23,424,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $279.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $251.81 and a 200-day moving average of $205.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total value of $145,752.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at $1,242,778.72. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 222,396 shares of company stock worth $54,105,275 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.