Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Shares of Alphabet Inc. rose 1% following an upgrade from Piper Sandler, which raised their price target from $220.00 to $285.00 and maintains an overweight rating.
• The company reported better-than-expected earnings, with $2.31 EPS surpassing analysts' estimates of $2.15, and $96.43 billion revenue for the quarter compared to expectations of $93.60 billion.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21, which translates to an annual yield of 0.3% and fits within a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 1% on Thursday after JMP Securities raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $290.00. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $253.99 and last traded at $252.03. 30,964,971 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 36,751,801 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.53.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.54.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Milestones Private Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $355,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in Alphabet by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 3,090,732 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $544,680,000 after acquiring an additional 763,225 shares during the period. American Trust lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,810 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $135,000. Finally, Lavaca Capital LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.01, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day moving average is $207.87 and its 200-day moving average is $179.73. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was 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.