Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0.9%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were up 0.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $167.75 and last traded at $167.05. Approximately 4,269,179 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 22,687,377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $150.99 and a 200-day moving average of $143.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Veracity Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 8,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.