Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.3% - What's Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $189.60 and last traded at $189.12. 12,044,912 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 27,513,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.21. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 91.0% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,450,599,000 after acquiring an additional 3,777,527 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.