Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 2.2% Higher - Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shot up 2.2% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $166.21 and last traded at $166.31. 5,921,726 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 19,138,599 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $162.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $927,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.