Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 2% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2% during trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $175.00 to $177.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $179.44 and last traded at $177.89. 13,772,203 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 31,619,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.36.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GOOGL. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business'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 value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business'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 $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $562,000. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% during the second quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC now owns 2,656 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 139,051 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,505,000 after buying an additional 3,339 shares during the last quarter. Fjell Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. Fjell Capital LLC now owns 15,151 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,670,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,620 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,868,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business's fifty day moving average price is $169.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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 company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.