Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 0.7% during mid-day 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.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 10,347 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,885,000 after buying an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 19.0% during the second quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 8,716 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.