Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1.1% Higher – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $323.16 and last traded at $321.27. 27,532,741 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 36,757,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citic Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $306.00 price target (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 193,628 shares of company stock worth $50,942,622. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.