Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 2.3% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded up 2.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $152.24 and last traded at $150.09. 14,656,423 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 27,746,422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.51.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.