Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 9.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 9.6% during mid-day trading on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $190.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $170.97. Approximately 33,969,957 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 30,255,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.24.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $147.22 and a 200-day moving average of $141.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS 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.