Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $170.80 and last traded at $170.41. 3,516,119 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 19,584,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.85. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 63,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,603,000 after acquiring an additional 12,021 shares during the period. Redwood Grove Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC now owns 102,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,591,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,083 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,337,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $508,236,000 after acquiring an additional 199,410 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.