Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1.1% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $190.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $157.08 and last traded at $156.13. 5,858,530 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 30,020,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.40.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.97.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,900.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,770,809,000 after buying an additional 206,300,042 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111,197.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,420,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,036,178,000 after buying an additional 170,267,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 118,576,618 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,271,705,000 after buying an additional 1,499,107 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $146.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS 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.