Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.3% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares shot up 0.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $169.92 and last traded at $169.23. 9,553,909 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 18,336,506 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.