Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.3% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price rose 0.3% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $166.22 and last traded at $165.47. Approximately 2,389,532 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 19,530,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 93.6% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,628,176 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $439,405,000 after buying an additional 115,716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.