Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 2.4% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price shot up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $196.35 and last traded at $195.65. 3,911,429 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 14,702,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.05.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $184.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 130,553 shares of company stock worth $23,817,951. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,375,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Alphabet by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.