Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $171.78 and last traded at $170.64. 4,320,600 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 20,543,438 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.05. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 144,888 shares of company stock worth $25,699,259. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.