Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 0% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $201.42 and last traded at $196.70. Approximately 14,821,278 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 27,405,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.66.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $173.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This trade represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $218,000. Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 32,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 53,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,721,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 47,515 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,655,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.