Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price rose 1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $164.79 and last traded at $164.28. Approximately 3,812,942 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 17,738,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $184.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% 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.