Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 2.1% - Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) traded up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $174.21 and last traded at $173.16. 8,529,517 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 20,076,095 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0%

The company's 50-day moving average is $160.72 and its 200 day moving average is $176.47. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 517,224 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $80,806,000 after acquiring an additional 13,760 shares during the period. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20.5% in the first quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 245,416 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $38,341,000 after acquiring an additional 41,811 shares during the period. Triune Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $213,000. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.8% in the first quarter. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,463 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the period. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the first quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 45,947 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,178,000 after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.