Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 3.5% - What's Next?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) rose 3.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $160.02 and last traded at $159.30. Approximately 5,615,871 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 19,357,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.90.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.38.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.7 %

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $165.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.32. The company has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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