Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 1% during trading on Thursday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $220.00. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $164.08 and last traded at $163.13. Approximately 5,366,869 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 27,518,857 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.49.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 16th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.35.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,590,960. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 180,867 shares of company stock worth $29,878,106 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $787,000. New Hampshire Trust grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,803 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,046,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $163.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.14. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.