Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 0.4% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price rose 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $187.10 and last traded at $186.60. Approximately 3,404,835 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 17,465,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 98,919 shares of company stock valued at $18,528,318 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 27.26% 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.