Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $156.54 and last traded at $154.44. Approximately 9,269,870 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 28,106,056 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.51.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.7 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% 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.