Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.6% Higher – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $199.79 and last traded at $199.53. 4,931,719 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 22,358,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 15,193 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Flavin Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $529,000. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 353,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $66,853,000 after buying an additional 2,007 shares in the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 11,077 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 818 shares during the period. Finally, Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $227,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.