Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 6.3% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price shot up 6.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $319.80 and last traded at $318.47. 54,061,979 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 128% from the average session volume of 23,741,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $299.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $265.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 227,952 shares of company stock worth $58,896,009. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.