Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $195.21 and last traded at $194.54, with a volume of 11815951 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $186.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 4.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at $4,385,565. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,923 shares of company stock worth $34,244,676. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 16,790 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.