Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 1.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 1.3% during trading on Thursday 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 $203.24 and last traded at $199.78. 4,730,313 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 15,635,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.18.

GOOG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,997 shares of company stock worth $22,492,464 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.8 %

The business's 50 day simple moving average is $189.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current 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.

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