Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 0.1%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price shot up 0.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $160.73 and last traded at $160.02. 5,298,795 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 21,857,717 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 56,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,992,000 after buying an additional 11,105 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $88,519,000. TI Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Davies Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $2,035,000. Finally, Financial Insights Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% in the first quarter. Financial Insights Inc. now owns 2,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 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.