Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.5% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 1.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $172.08 and last traded at $171.49. 23,789,084 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 24,909,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 186,124 shares of company stock worth $31,374,030. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the third quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 53,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,863,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $244,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,763 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. American Trust grew its position in Alphabet by 156.0% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 24,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after buying an additional 14,886 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 126,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,948,000 after buying an additional 1,574 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.