Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares rose 2% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $181.11 and last traded at $179.61. Approximately 23,046,734 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 30,176,909 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.09.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%
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 has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $162.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.57.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Optima Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Optima Capital LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the first quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,024 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6,696.7% in the first quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 2,039 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 2,009 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,912 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.
About Alphabet
(
Get Free Report)
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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