Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 9.4% on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 9.4% on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $176.42 and last traded at $172.87. 26,842,165 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 21% from the average session volume of 22,242,641 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.95.

The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $165.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,309,370,000 after acquiring an additional 862,550 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,269,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,550,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,101,040,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 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.

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.