Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sets New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) reached a new 52-week high of $209.23, with recent trading showing a volume of over 25 million shares.
• Research analysts have mixed ratings for Alphabet, with five rating it as a Strong Buy, while the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $215.19.
• The company reported robust earnings with EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates, and revenue of $96.43 billion, reflecting a 13.8% year-over-year growth.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Saturday . The stock traded as high as $209.23 and last traded at $206.72, with a volume of 25689130 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $200.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Dimension Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 13,968 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,478,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 4,485 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Challenger Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Challenger Wealth Management now owns 1,335 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. REDW Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, GDS Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

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.

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