Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 2.9% - Here's Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) rose 2.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $158.32 and last traded at $157.16. Approximately 15,241,473 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 28,729,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price 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. Ten research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.2%

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 $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50-day moving average is $158.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.12.

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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $516,000. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.9% during the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 19,461 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,009,000 after purchasing an additional 7,367 shares in the last quarter. Fosun International Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 18,498 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,861,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 20,767 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,211,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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.