Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. CICC Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $343.00 target price (up previously from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.20.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $281.31 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $244.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $291.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.