Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $166.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $157.08 and last traded at $156.13. Approximately 5,858,530 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 30,020,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.40.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Alphabet from $174.00 to $172.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp upped their target price on Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.64.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock worth $32,835,757. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 1,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 72,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,910,000 after buying an additional 6,215 shares in the last quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC now owns 5,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Consulting Group raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Weaver Consulting Group now owns 9,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 5,011 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $756,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.92, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $145.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.