Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price was up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $212.00 to $232.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $197.00 and last traded at $195.63. Approximately 6,022,806 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 27,445,670 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.42.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,590,960. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. IMS Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 13,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,431,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS grew its holdings in Alphabet by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 47,077 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,808,000 after acquiring an additional 5,091 shares in the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 11,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,835,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 17,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,922,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly 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 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

About Alphabet

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.