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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares shot up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $171.14 and last traded at $170.82. 12,433,371 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 19,605,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their target price 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. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $169.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 63,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,603,000 after buying an additional 12,021 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,900 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 56.1% in 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 grew its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the first 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 in the last quarter. 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.