Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Saturday . The stock traded as high as $208.54 and last traded at $206.09, with a volume of 42770206 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $199.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Roth Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $186.81 and its 200 day moving average is $173.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 73,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,873,000 after buying an additional 13,564 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.