Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Alphabet's shares rose by 1.3% after CIBC raised its price target to $315.00, while the stock's last price was $256.55.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Alphabet, with estimates ranging from $195.00 to $290.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Insider selling was noted, with CAO Amie Thuener O'toole selling 2,778 shares and CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares, indicating a decrease in insider ownership.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares shot up 1.3% during trading on Monday after CIBC raised their price target on the stock to $315.00. The stock traded as high as $257.33 and last traded at $256.55. 22,253,613 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 35,888,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $253.30.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $201.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $255.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $16,062,000 after acquiring an additional 9,900 shares in the last quarter. HFG Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.8% during the first quarter. HFG Advisors Inc. now owns 2,094 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 22.9% during the first quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm's 50 day moving average is $231.55 and its 200 day moving average is $192.14. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

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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