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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price was up 1.1% during trading on Tuesday 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 $158.39 and last traded at $157.93. Approximately 5,806,971 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 29,767,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.28.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.71.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 in the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after buying an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,908,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares during the period. Finally, NatWest Group plc grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 239.0% during the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 100,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,080,000 after buying an additional 71,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $146.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current 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.