Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) shares were up 2% during trading on Friday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $225.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $206.64 and last traded at $206.70. Approximately 4,388,619 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 15,573,267 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.63.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,630 shares of company stock valued at $22,258,133 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its position in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $189.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.54.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 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.