Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 9.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 9.6% during trading on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $190.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $170.97. 33,969,957 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 30,255,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

Several other analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $147.22 and its 200-day moving average is $141.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

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.