Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1.6% Higher – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares shot up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $328.67 and last traded at $323.64. 50,029,958 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 110% from the average session volume of 23,870,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $318.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $304.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $264.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $215.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 227,952 shares of company stock valued at $58,896,009 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $382,000. Court Place Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Keyes Stange & Wooten Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Opes Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,865 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,377,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manhattan West Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 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.