Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $163.66 and last traded at $163.38. Approximately 22,123,799 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 27,633,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.17.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.7 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,065 shares of company stock worth $22,841,690. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the first quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the second quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 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.