Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 0.3% – Here’s Why

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 0.3% on Monday . The company traded as high as $166.22 and last traded at $165.47. 2,389,532 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 19,530,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.05.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Pivotal Research began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.