Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 0.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 0.1% on Monday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $175.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $156.48 and last traded at $154.26. Approximately 7,393,629 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 29,834,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.09.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Redburn Atlantic upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 over the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IRON Financial LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 6.6% during the first quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 3,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Bell Bank boosted its stake in Alphabet by 35.3% during the first quarter. Bell Bank now owns 30,738 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,639,000 after buying an additional 8,026 shares in the last quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 18.2% during the first quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Summa Corp. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Summa Corp. now owns 7,929 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% during the first quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 52,905 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,985,000 after buying an additional 1,946 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.