Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0.6% Higher – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price shot up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $170.80 and last traded at $170.41. 3,516,119 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 19,584,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.85.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 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.