Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 0% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $191.96 and last traded at $191.33. Approximately 2,978,171 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 27,401,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $179.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.28. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.11, 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) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 137,588 shares of company stock valued at $24,473,081. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.