Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.3%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price rose 0.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $186.54 and last traded at $186.10. Approximately 5,509,860 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 27,914,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.06.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $177.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $157.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 122,988 shares of company stock worth $21,015,755. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.