Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after TD Securities raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $220.00. The company traded as high as $191.75 and last traded at $191.18, with a volume of 15931072 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $188.98.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 123,788 shares of company stock valued at $21,143,403. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $176.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.15. The company has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.32, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.