Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1% Higher

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) rose 1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $159.94 and last traded at $159.53. Approximately 4,345,712 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 21,914,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $147.65 and its 200 day moving average is $142.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.