Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 0.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $183.36 and last traded at $183.34. 3,907,849 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 28,455,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $182.99.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.66.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.44.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 142,344 shares of company stock valued at $23,920,676 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,742,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $358,842,000 after purchasing an additional 165,662 shares during the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its stake in Alphabet by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 2,169,929 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $283,957,000 after buying an additional 291,334 shares during the last quarter. Fernbridge Capital Management LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 47.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fernbridge Capital Management LP now owns 319,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $41,756,000 after buying an additional 102,477 shares during the last quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank grew its stake in Alphabet by 99.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 23,892 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after buying an additional 11,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 44,798 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010 shares in the last quarter. 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.