Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 3.2% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) shares were up 3.2% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $294.40 and last traded at $287.30. Approximately 31,488,229 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 52% from the average session volume of 20,751,760 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.27.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (down from $450.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $440.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.38.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $329.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $337.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.01 by ($0.89). The business had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.97 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 135.5% during the third quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 73 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Timbuktu Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Alphabet is a technology holding company whose primary business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company adopted a holding-company structure in 2015. Sundar Pichai leads Alphabet and Google as chief executive officer.

Google offers internet search, online advertising, cloud computing, and software and hardware products. Its services and products include Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and Google Cloud.

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