Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares shot up 1% during trading on Thursday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $285.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $253.99 and last traded at $252.03. 30,964,971 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 36,751,801 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.53.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Roth Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.51.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This trade represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 85.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $31,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

The company has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $207.87 and a 200 day moving average of $179.73.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.