Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 1.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $202.29 and last traded at $199.07. Approximately 10,426,675 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 21,821,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $184.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 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 return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.8% in the second quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 36,108 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 8,511 shares during the period. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% during the second quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $947,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.