Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 1%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was up 1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $167.95 and last traded at $167.16. Approximately 2,897,974 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 20,240,246 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $176.56 and its 200 day moving average is $164.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,235,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,065 shares of company stock valued at $31,025,543 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 335.9% during the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 53,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,586,000 after acquiring an additional 41,476 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after acquiring an additional 8,201 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial River Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.