Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 2.7% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 2.7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $161.53 and last traded at $161.38. 8,736,762 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 28,141,220 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.51.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,297 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,770. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.4% in the first quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 11,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after buying an additional 952 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 413,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $63,990,000 after buying an additional 15,878 shares in the last quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust now owns 8,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 95,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,818,000 after purchasing an additional 279 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.