Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was up 1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $194.60 and last traded at $191.97. Approximately 7,205,754 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 19,707,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. M&G PLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after buying an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 172.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after buying an additional 57,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.