Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 2.5% Higher – Here’s Why

by · The Cerbat Gem

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report)’s share price rose 2.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $326.15 and last traded at $322.0450. Approximately 34,890,253 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 9% from the average daily volume of 32,070,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $314.34.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price objective (up previously from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.27.

Get Our Latest Research Report on GOOGL

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $303.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.53. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 192,687 shares of company stock worth $56,255,711 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% in 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 period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Alphabet

(Get Free Report)

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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