Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 1.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares shot up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $225.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $203.24 and last traded at $199.78. 4,730,313 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 15,635,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.18.

GOOG has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 121,630 shares of company stock worth $22,258,133. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 111.0% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 69,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,704,000 after buying an additional 36,439 shares in the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $23,681,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,594,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in Alphabet by 21.4% during the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.87, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.