Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.7% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 1.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $157.01 and last traded at $157.24. Approximately 9,615,416 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 27,319,994 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.64.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.49.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,093,773 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.