Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 0.5% during trading on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $175.00 to $180.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $156.41 and last traded at $156.31. 4,959,656 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 29,900,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.47.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. 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. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Bornite Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $16,688,000. Markel Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 15,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $43,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,654,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 323,918 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $900,929,000 after purchasing an additional 61,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 9,279 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $146.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.