Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Announces Dividend Increase - $0.21 Per Share

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the information services provider on Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a 5.0% increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Alphabet has a dividend payout ratio of 8.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Alphabet to earn $10.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.2%.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $3.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $165.81. The company had a trading volume of 16,826,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,189,008. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company's fifty day moving average is $162.48 and its 200-day moving average is $177.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Alphabet stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.