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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares shot up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday 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 $156.41 and last traded at $156.31. 4,959,656 shares changed 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 recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.40. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for 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 quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share 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.