Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.8% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGGet Free Report) rose 1.8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $170.46 and last traded at $169.65. Approximately 5,615,614 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 19,588,791 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Five equities research 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, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $169.71 and its 200 day moving average is $171.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&G PLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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