Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.3%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price rose 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $154.42 and last traded at $153.11. Approximately 8,286,592 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 27,645,068 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.76.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.75 and a 200 day moving average of $164.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,310,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.