Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was up 1.1% during 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 trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 27,480,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.40.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $173.46 and a 200 day moving average of $171.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.