Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the information services provider on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Alphabet has a payout ratio of 9.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Alphabet to earn $7.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.3%.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Alphabet stock traded up $15.95 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $103.54 and a fifty-two week high of $174.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $147.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.