Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1.5% Higher

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) rose 1.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $154.40 and last traded at $154.25. Approximately 5,324,317 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 22,720,334 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.49, for a total value of $28,698.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $973,436.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.49, for a total value of $28,698.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,784 shares in the company, valued at $973,436.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 250,739 shares of company stock valued at $35,934,957 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.