Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 2.5% Higher - What's Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shares were up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $175.43 and last traded at $174.11. Approximately 7,718,410 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 20,287,853 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

The company's 50 day simple moving average is $161.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.05. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.