Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 6.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price shot up 6.3% during mid-day trading on Monday after Arete raised their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $300.00. Arete currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $319.48 and last traded at $318.58. 83,246,745 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 128% from the average session volume of 36,515,922 shares. The stock had previously closed at $299.66.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. CICC Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Guggenheim increased their price target on Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Alphabet from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 225,174 shares of company stock valued at $58,095,223 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Smart Money Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.4% during the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,181 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 41.2% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 105,906 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,377,000 after purchasing an additional 30,904 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 1,256,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $194,304,000 after purchasing an additional 10,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 6.3%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $263.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

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.