Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.9% - Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $182.45 and last traded at $181.06. 12,012,859 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 20,353,557 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

The company's fifty day moving average price is $162.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $426,000. Militia Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 300.0% during the 1st quarter. Militia Capital Partners LP now owns 42,000 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,562,000 after acquiring an additional 31,500 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 11,924 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,940 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Integrity Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 46,462 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,259,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the period. 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.