Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock from $155.00 to $170.00. Loop Capital currently has a hold rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $165.63 and last traded at $165.35. 8,014,546 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 30,583,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.78.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 275,789 shares of company stock valued at $40,477,534. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tanager Wealth Management LLP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 22,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,389,000 after buying an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.5% in the first quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 26,318 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,972,000 after buying an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 31.2% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 23,547 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,554,000 after acquiring an additional 5,595 shares during the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% in the first quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 35,920 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,421,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KFA Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% in the first quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,506 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $149.22 and a 200 day moving average of $141.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.