Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 1.1% during trading on Thursday 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 $193.03 and last traded at $190.51. 8,848,702 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 27,480,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.40.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This trade represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Alphabet by 91.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,450,599,000 after acquiring an additional 3,777,527 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business 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 period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.