Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Rating Upgraded by BNP Paribas

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) was upgraded by investment analysts at BNP Paribas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $123.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock. BNP Paribas’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 21.04% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Tigress Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $160.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $101.62 on Friday. Alphabet has a one year low of $83.34 and a one year high of $143.79. The company has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.18.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The information services provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.09). Alphabet had a net margin of 21.20% and a return on equity of 23.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,131,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,197,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2021 Gp L.L.C. Gv acquired 415,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.29 per share, with a total value of $12,155,350.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,709,527 shares in the company, valued at $50,072,045.83. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,131,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,197,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,245 shares of company stock valued at $7,174,078 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. DC Investments Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $114,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $225,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC now owns 99 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $281,000. 34.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Alphabet

(Get Rating)

Alphabet, Inc engages in the business of delivering online advertising, cloud-based solutions that provide enterprise customers with infrastructure and platform services, the provision of communication and collaboration tools, and sales of other products and services such as apps and in-app purchases, hardware, and subscription-based products.