Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.2% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were up 1.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $154.93 and last traded at $149.55. Approximately 17,115,284 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 19,031,002 shares. The stock had previously closed at $147.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.33.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $174.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 30,158 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,712,000 after purchasing an additional 5,057 shares in the last quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.9% in the first quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 4,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 79,960 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,293 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 129,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,285,000 after acquiring an additional 9,539 shares in the last quarter. 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.