Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were up 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $185.00. Loop Capital currently has a hold rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $179.21 and last traded at $178.32. Approximately 5,249,243 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 27,105,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.51.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 242,552 shares of company stock valued at $40,287,253 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,279,000 after buying an additional 41,880 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 34.9% in the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 78,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,891,000 after buying an additional 20,394 shares during the last quarter. Colony Family Offices LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 93.2% in the first quarter. Colony Family Offices LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.0% during the first quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 31,968 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 23.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,492,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,130,779,000 after buying an additional 1,402,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.