Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $161.59 and last traded at $160.93. 4,015,537 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 20,071,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $34,341,581. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its position in Alphabet by 93.6% during the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% 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.