Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 1.2% on Friday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $176.00 to $210.00. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $175.68 and last traded at $175.56. Approximately 5,071,619 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 29,581,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.55.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.57.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 205,935 shares of company stock valued at $31,178,987. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PGGM Investments lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.9% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 547,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $82,683,000 after purchasing an additional 30,714 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 13.5% in the first quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $764,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the period. FSA Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 45.8% in the first quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 3,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the period. Redwood Grove Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $15,591,000. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $160.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%.

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.