Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1.1% Higher - Here's Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 1.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $184.60 and last traded at $184.80. Approximately 6,334,396 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 21,391,594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $182.81.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Robbins Farley raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other 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.