Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $185.00 to $205.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $171.69, with a volume of 21504390 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. M. Kraus & Co grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the first quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Aire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% in the first quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,274 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Penbrook Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Penbrook Management LLC now owns 23,170 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,497,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS 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.