Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $199.50 and last traded at $198.54, with a volume of 3368468 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $196.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. IMS Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the third quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 13,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the third quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,431,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.1% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 47,077 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,808,000 after buying an additional 5,091 shares during the period. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 11,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,835,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 17,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by 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.