Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.7% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $202.14 and last traded at $199.32. 6,036,099 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 13,688,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped 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. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $182.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.11. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.1% during the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.