Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares were up 1% on Monday . The company traded as high as $188.20 and last traded at $187.22. Approximately 7,895,086 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 27,997,902 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.34.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued 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 a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th 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 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,193,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $197,949,000 after acquiring an additional 74,225 shares during the last quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the third quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV now owns 1,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 19,110 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,170,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the third quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 31,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,232,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% during the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,954 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,458,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.