Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.4% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price shot up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $174.06 and last traded at $173.78. 9,679,363 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 27,041,906 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.34.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results 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 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 period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.