Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.3% Higher – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price was up 0.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $189.60 and last traded at $189.12. Approximately 12,044,912 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 27,513,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $174.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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 $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% 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.