Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Alphabet's stock reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday, climbing to $252.41 after Citigroup raised its price target from $225.00 to $280.00.
• Insiders, including CEO Sundar Pichai, recently sold large amounts of stock, with Pichai selling 32,500 shares valued at approximately $7.47 million.
• Alphabet reported a better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with revenue of $96.43 billion and an EPS of $2.31, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $225.00 to $280.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $252.41 and last traded at $251.61, with a volume of 58263832 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $240.80.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. JMP Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $222.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.

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