Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded up 1.1% on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $154.00 to $174.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $158.68 and last traded at $157.73. 4,139,583 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 22,167,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

GOOG has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Capital Management increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Avalon Capital Management now owns 125,115 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,050,000 after purchasing an additional 16,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 179.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 14,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 9,023 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.