Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Hits New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reached a new 52-week high of $208.54, with the last trading price at $206.09 and a significant trading volume of over 42 million shares.
• Recent analyst reports indicate a positive outlook for Alphabet, with several brokerages raising their price targets, including Barclays, which increased its target to $235.00.
• Alphabet has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, payable on September 15th, reflecting a 0.4% dividend yield and a low payout ratio of 8.95%.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Saturday . The company traded as high as $208.54 and last traded at $206.09, with a volume of 42770206 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $199.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $186.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.37.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during 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.

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