Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0% Higher – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares shot up 0% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $167.03 and last traded at $166.33. 5,095,949 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 17,770,727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.02.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4,715.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,353,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 13.7% during the third quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 4,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,519,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.