Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 0.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $162.79 and last traded at $162.97. 10,723,535 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 25,786,968 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $182.57 and its 200 day moving average is $176.51. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.