Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.6% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $195.86 and last traded at $195.75. Approximately 3,856,704 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 27,621,697 shares. The stock had previously closed at $194.63.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $175.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.42. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,257 shares of company stock valued at $31,243,187 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 91.0% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,450,599,000 after buying an additional 3,777,527 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.