Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $175.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $158.39 and last traded at $157.93. 5,806,971 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 29,767,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.28.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Roth Mkm cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $174.00 to $172.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its 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 net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal 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.