Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 4% Higher – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $193.70 and last traded at $192.49. Approximately 25,640,477 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 27,189,373 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $171.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 197,123 shares of company stock valued at $34,121,676. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after acquiring an additional 523,416 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.