Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Hits New 52-Week High at $134.25

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $134.25 and last traded at $132.64, with a volume of 3240542 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $132.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. 888 reaffirmed a “downgrade” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Alphabet from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, August 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.08.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The information services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. Alphabet had a return on equity of 23.49% and a net margin of 21.05%. The business had revenue of $74.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 5.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total transaction of $26,228.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,287.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 240 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.73, for a total transaction of $29,695.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,800 shares in the company, valued at $1,583,744. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.14, for a total transaction of $26,228.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,287.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 180,006 shares of company stock worth $8,804,132. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1,919.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,035,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,628,484,000 after purchasing an additional 453,413,389 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,900.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,770,809,000 after buying an additional 206,300,042 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111,197.8% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,420,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,036,178,000 after acquiring an additional 170,267,122 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1,759.2% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 116,116,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,106,502,000 after acquiring an additional 109,870,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $8,335,063,000. 35.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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, hardware, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.