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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was up 1.6% on Friday . The company traded as high as $196.83 and last traded at $195.99. Approximately 9,730,847 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 21,257,789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after acquiring an additional 523,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.