Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.4% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded up 1.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $167.62 and last traded at $166.82. 2,610,167 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 19,706,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.52.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased 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. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Pivotal Research began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.37. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’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 directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,092 shares of company stock valued at $35,644,136 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings 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 valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in Alphabet by 93.6% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% 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.