Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were up 1.1% on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $154.00 to $174.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $158.68 and last traded at $157.73. Approximately 4,139,583 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 22,167,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

GOOG has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock worth $32,835,757 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Advisors Network Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the first quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.8% in the first quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 82 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% in the first quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 252 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Somerville Kurt F lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% in the first quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 118 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,301,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.51. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

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.