Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0% – What’s Next?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $197.76 and last traded at $197.59. 2,005,650 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 19,754,395 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $177.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.26. 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 capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. This represents a 27.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 178,257 shares of company stock worth $31,243,187. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after buying an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 172.9% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after buying an additional 57,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.