Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0.7% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were up 0.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $202.12 and last traded at $201.08. Approximately 4,957,203 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 15,436,151 shares. The stock had previously closed at $199.63.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $186.56 and a 200 day moving average of $174.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,672,512.16. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. M&G PLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd 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 increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after acquiring an additional 57,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.