Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Announces Earnings Results

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $6.17 on Friday, reaching $187.14. The company had a trading volume of 29,497,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,540,006. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $192.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.