Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $212.00 to $232.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $193.03 and last traded at $190.51. Approximately 8,848,702 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 27,480,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.40.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IMS Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the third quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 13,708 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 47,077 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,808,000 after buying an additional 5,091 shares during the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 11,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,835,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 17,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,922,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $173.46 and a 200-day moving average of $171.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.