Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 0.5% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price shot up 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $186.85 and last traded at $186.37. 3,598,319 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 17,725,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $194.37 and its 200 day moving average is $176.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 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.