Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 2.7% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded up 2.7% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $163.87 and last traded at $163.75. 5,184,165 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 19,366,973 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.71.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.17 and a 200 day moving average of $177.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,663 shares of company stock valued at $20,286,447 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently 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.