Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 1% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price rose 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $194.60 and last traded at $191.97. Approximately 7,205,754 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 19,707,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.61. 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:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,590,960. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $33,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.