Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $200.00. DA Davidson currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $200.26 and last traded at $198.64. Approximately 5,272,042 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 22,702,318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.98.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.4% during the 2nd quarter. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd now owns 196,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,757,000 after acquiring an additional 49,203 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its position in Alphabet by 14.7% during the second quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 5,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.1% in the second quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.9% in the second quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 8,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 15,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,892,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $185.91 and its 200 day moving average is $173.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.