Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 5.4% Following Strong Earnings

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded up 5.4% during trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $182.02 and last traded at $178.88. 30,455,154 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average session volume of 26,958,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.68.

The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $182.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.32.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,344,778,000 after buying an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,274,184,000 after buying an additional 418,204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day moving average is $162.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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.