Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.1%

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) were up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $169.42 and last traded at $167.84. Approximately 2,420,174 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 20,244,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.0 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $176.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,838,460. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,065 shares of company stock worth $31,025,543 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after purchasing an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,101,040,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.