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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were up 0.1% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $171.14 and last traded at $170.82. Approximately 12,433,371 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 19,210,258 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted 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. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.98 and a 200-day moving average of $171.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Alphabet by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 32,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,930,000 after purchasing an additional 5,662 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $670,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $319,000. City State Bank lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 13,787 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 32,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,015,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.