Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares rose 0.7% during trading on Friday after Wolfe Research raised their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $230.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $193.21 and last traded at $190.68. Approximately 5,582,885 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 12,627,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.43.

Several other brokerages have also commented on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.40. The company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.