Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $165.00 and last traded at $165.20. 7,713,905 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 17,786,701 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $184.91 and a 200 day moving average of $177.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 7.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,261,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 210,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,220,000 after buying an additional 2,151 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 591,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $98,809,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 26.5% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 821,450 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $137,338,000 after acquiring an additional 172,077 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.