Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were up 0% during trading on Thursday after China Renaissance upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $176.78 and last traded at $174.49. Approximately 9,735,005 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 27,058,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.46.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of $162.43 and a 200 day moving average of $168.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business 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 earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.85 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. 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.