Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 2.9% – Here’s Why

by · The Cerbat Gem

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) was up 2.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $159.84 and last traded at $158.81. Approximately 9,430,274 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 19,477,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Get Our Latest Research Report on GOOG

Alphabet Trading Up 3.4%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $160.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

(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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