Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded to Buy at China Renaissance

China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.51.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $171.38. The stock had a trading volume of 11,946,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,152,537. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet has a one year low of $126.93 and a one year high of $191.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $162.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.85 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 219,744 shares of company stock worth $35,878,764 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.