Alphabet Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the information services provider on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Alphabet has a dividend payout ratio of 9.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Alphabet to earn $7.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.3%.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

GOOGL traded up $15.95 on Friday, hitting $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $103.54 and a twelve month high of $174.71. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $147.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.