Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.8% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $196.11 and last traded at $196.11. 10,403,259 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 27,650,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $194.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment 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.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $175.76 and a 200-day moving average of $171.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,257 shares of company stock worth $31,243,187 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IMS Capital Management grew its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 13,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 47,077 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,808,000 after buying an additional 5,091 shares during the period. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 11,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,835,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 17,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,922,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.