Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) rose 0.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $166.48 and last traded at $165.86. Approximately 4,977,544 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 18,800,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tableaux LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $480,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $329,725,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,735,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 98,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,800,000 after purchasing an additional 26,092 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $260,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.