Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.9% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 1.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $168.63 and last traded at $167.88. 7,488,533 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 27,169,844 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 126,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,574 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 226.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 236,632 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $39,245,000 after purchasing an additional 164,194 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $6,673,000. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 290.2% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,054,000 after purchasing an additional 134,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 923,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $152,128,000 after buying an additional 106,890 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.