Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.7%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares shot up 1.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $181.40 and last traded at $180.74. 11,400,801 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 21,069,199 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $171.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.