Alphabet Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the information services provider on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Alphabet has a payout ratio of 9.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Alphabet to earn $7.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.3%.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded up $15.95 on Friday, hitting $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a one year low of $103.54 and a one year high of $174.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.