Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. shares saw a significant increase, opening at $226.21 after KeyCorp raised its price target from $230.00 to $265.00, reflecting strong analyst interest.
• In recent transactions, insiders sold substantial amounts of stock, with CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares valued at over $6.4 million, indicating potential insider sentiment about the company's future performance.
• Alphabet recently declared a dividend of $0.21 per share, marking a payout ratio of 8.95%, which contributes to its overall appeal as an investment.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $280.00. The stock had previously closed at $211.35, but opened at $226.21. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Alphabet shares last traded at $229.74, with a volume of 21,080,804 shares.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $222.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Trust grew its holdings in Alphabet by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 24,751 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,362,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $135,000. Lavaca Capital LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 6,860 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Midwestern Financial LLC IA acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Tribridge Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $266,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average is $195.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. 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.