Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29, Yahoo Finance reports. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9 %

GOOGL stock traded down $3.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $171.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 44,707,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,224,047. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $122.68 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.78.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 220,426 shares of company stock valued at $35,993,340. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.