Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 1.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $317.99 and last traded at $317.08. 30,088,454 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 36,721,523 shares. The stock had previously closed at $313.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Citic Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $313.33.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $281.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total value of $32,401.32. Following the sale, the director owned 18,104 shares in the company, valued at $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock worth $61,326,372. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.