Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Hits New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $171.69, with a volume of 21504390 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush lifted their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average of $141.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after acquiring an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% during the third quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,908,000 after acquiring an additional 104,366 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.