Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0.3% Higher – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price traded up 0.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $166.22 and last traded at $165.47. 2,389,532 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 19,530,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Pivotal Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective for the company. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $163.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 62.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.