Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1% Higher - Here's Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $194.60 and last traded at $191.97. 7,205,754 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 19,707,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.61. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after buying an additional 636,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.