Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0% - Here's What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares traded up 0% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $167.54 and last traded at $166.59. 9,536,482 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 29,012,609 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned 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 target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $158.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $417,000. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 48,126 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. MBL Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. MBL Wealth LLC now owns 23,884 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,693,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.1% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 74,363 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,499,000 after purchasing an additional 12,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acorns Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.3% during the first quarter. Acorns Advisers LLC now owns 4,826 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $746,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% 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.