Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0.7% Higher – What’s Next?

by · The Cerbat Gem

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) traded up 0.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $166.48 and last traded at $165.86. 4,977,544 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 18,800,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOG

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

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 stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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