Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 3.3% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price was up 3.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $303.96 and last traded at $299.65. Approximately 43,154,475 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 83% from the average daily volume of 23,611,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $289.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $261.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,452 shares of company stock worth $49,255,209. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 4,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $522,000. Burney Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 13,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 181,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares during the last quarter. 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.