Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.7% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 1.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $157.01 and last traded at $157.24. Approximately 9,615,416 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 27,319,994 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.49.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $178.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,093,773 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $2,201,000. Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $374,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $449,000. Prostatis Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 9,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares during the period. Finally, M1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $838,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.