Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.5% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $185.18 and last traded at $184.70. Approximately 5,473,727 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 26,995,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $193.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,029 shares of company stock valued at $12,625,003 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 22.9% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,481 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.