Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 3.5% - What's Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $160.02 and last traded at $159.30. Approximately 5,615,871 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 19,357,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $164.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 $2.04 by $0.77. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st 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 purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.