Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday after China Renaissance upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $176.78 and last traded at $174.49. 9,735,005 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 27,058,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.46.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on GOOGL. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 219,744 shares of company stock valued at $35,878,764 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Hampshire Trust lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Berkshire Money Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 58.4% during the first quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

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.