Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.8% - Here's What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $155.95 and last traded at $155.52. 15,452,656 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 19,363,476 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $161.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.00. The company has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 posted 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 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.

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