Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.9% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 0.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $174.20 and last traded at $174.08. 4,489,808 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 27,038,992 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. 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 $165.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,279,000 after buying an additional 41,880 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 12.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 187,840 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,351,000 after buying an additional 20,572 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 27.4% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,263,000 after purchasing an additional 7,507 shares during the period. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 113,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,074,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.