Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 2.1% Higher - Here's Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $152.54 and last traded at $153.02. 3,117,885 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 19,350,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $149.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.77. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,270,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group raised its position in Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by 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.