Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price rose 1.6% during trading on Friday 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 $165.70 and last traded at $165.32. Approximately 6,366,533 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 27,477,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.73.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on GOOGL. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.35.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,838,460. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 180,867 shares of company stock worth $29,878,106. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid 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 (DPR) is 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.