Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0.5% – What’s Next?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $185.18 and last traded at $184.70. Approximately 5,473,727 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 26,995,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $192.67 and its 200-day moving average is $175.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99. 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:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,609 shares of company stock valued at $21,809,990 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,708,000 after acquiring an additional 4,811 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 5,787 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 38,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,380,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TTP Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.2% during the third quarter. TTP Investments Inc. now owns 17,704 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,975 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.