Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.9% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 0.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock from $155.00 to $170.00. Loop Capital currently has a hold rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $165.99 and last traded at $165.26. Approximately 6,478,542 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 30,599,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.86.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were 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 $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Meritage Group LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 165.8% during the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

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.