Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGLGet Free Report) shares were up 0.7% on Friday after Wolfe Research raised their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $230.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $193.21 and last traded at $190.68. Approximately 5,582,885 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 12,627,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.43.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.44.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on GOOGL

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 154,519 shares of company stock worth $27,734,316 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGLGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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