Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 2.3% Higher Following Earnings Beat

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 2.3% on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $166.10 and last traded at $163.02. Approximately 24,854,276 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 28,433,132 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.28.

The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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 Alphabet 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.3 %

The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $162.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.44.

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.

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