Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Argus raised their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $200.00. Argus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $165.63 and last traded at $165.35. Approximately 8,014,546 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 30,583,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.78.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.74.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 253,289 shares of company stock worth $36,724,534. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Meritage Group LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 165.8% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

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.