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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded up 0.7% during 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. 5,582,885 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 12,627,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.43.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities cut Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday. Nine equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 280.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $179.71 and a 200 day moving average of $172.40. 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 company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.