Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1%

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $174.05 and last traded at $173.21. 5,723,119 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 27,873,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.3 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $178.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $161.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total value of $252,120.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,391 shares in the company, valued at $738,039.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total transaction of $252,120.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,391 shares in the company, valued at $738,039.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 99,126 shares of company stock valued at $17,617,549. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.