Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was up 0.5% on Thursday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $190.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $156.41 and last traded at $156.31. Approximately 4,959,656 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 29,900,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.47.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $157.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DC Investments Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $114,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $225,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC now owns 99 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $281,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Research analysts expect 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.