Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 5.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $173.12 and last traded at $174.47. Approximately 15,935,936 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 19,802,650 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.32.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Performance
The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50-day moving average is $160.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.66.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. McAdam LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,220 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 31.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 575,656 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $89,927,000 after buying an additional 136,102 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 76,902 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,014,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the last quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% in the first quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 107,833 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $16,847,000 after acquiring an additional 6,614 shares during the period. Finally, Acorns Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.1% in the first quarter. Acorns Advisers LLC now owns 6,886 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,076,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Alphabet
(
Get Free Report)
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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