Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1.1% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 1.1% on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $208.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $183.47 and last traded at $183.64. 9,846,497 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 31,835,025 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.56.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $171.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.