Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0.3% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares shot up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $168.22 and last traded at $166.34. 4,548,269 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 27,295,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.14.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $162.06 and a 200 day moving average of $167.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. waypoint wealth counsel increased its position in Alphabet by 16.3% in the third quarter. waypoint wealth counsel now owns 6,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 24,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,122,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,991,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% during the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,954 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,458,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the third quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 31,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,232,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.