Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 3.9% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price shot up 3.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $197.62 and last traded at $197.26. 9,956,041 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 27,315,760 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $172.93 and a 200 day moving average of $170.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,590,960. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $218,000. Breed s Hill Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.1% in the second quarter. Breed s Hill Capital LLC now owns 4,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robbins Farley raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 18,465 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,363,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.