Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 1.1% on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $210.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $184.14 and last traded at $184.08. 8,970,743 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 31,900,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $182.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.68.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,716 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 164.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 7,292 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,285,000 after purchasing an additional 4,536 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 21,448 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 2,496 shares during the last quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC now owns 11,743 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,069,000 after buying an additional 1,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One North America Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 373,856 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $65,885,000 after buying an additional 119,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9%

The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50-day moving average is $172.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.