Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1.6% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 1.6% during mid-day trading on Friday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $220.00. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $165.70 and last traded at $165.32. Approximately 6,366,533 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 27,477,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.73.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.35.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 180,867 shares of company stock worth $29,878,106 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $163.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.