Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 2.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price traded up 2.8% on Wednesday after Loop Capital upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $304.25 and last traded at $292.99. 42,247,049 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 80% from the average session volume of 23,469,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $284.96.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Scotiabank set a $336.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 189,896 shares of company stock worth $47,653,637 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 42,586 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,372,000 after acquiring an additional 7,105 shares during the last quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $204,000. AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the third quarter. AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 13.5% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 156,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,075,000 after buying an additional 18,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.1% in the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 11,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,833,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $259.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

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.