Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $195.21 and last traded at $194.54, with a volume of 11815951 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $186.53.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,123 shares of company stock worth $34,121,676 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. 1ST Source Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 55,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,247,000 after buying an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 26,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,508,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $962,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,181,000. Finally, Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $339,000. Hedge funds and other 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.