Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $141.00 to $168.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $171.69, with a volume of 21504390 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.00.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. M. Kraus & Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the first quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Aire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,645,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the first quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penbrook Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Penbrook Management LLC now owns 23,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,497,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 9.6 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.16. The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share 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.