Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.6% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 1.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $328.67 and last traded at $323.64. 50,029,958 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 110% from the average session volume of 23,870,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $318.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $304.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $267.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total value of $9,640,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,642,180.16. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 227,850 shares of company stock valued at $58,874,814. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth 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. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 41.8% in the 1st quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 26,935 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,208,000 after buying an additional 7,934 shares during the period. FSA Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 1,453 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,316 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,612,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 590,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $92,313,000 after acquiring an additional 15,862 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.