Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shares shot up 1.1% during trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $186.00 to $192.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $185.20 and last traded at $185.07. 5,945,918 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 21,437,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.10.
Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.40.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOG
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after buying an additional 135,064,454 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%
The firm has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $174.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.72.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.
About Alphabet
(
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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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