Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.5% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $185.05 and last traded at $184.58. Approximately 5,241,424 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 27,319,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.61.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.