Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.6% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price was up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $193.20 and last traded at $191.65. Approximately 4,893,943 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 19,706,879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $181.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.