Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $141.00 to $168.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $174.71 and last traded at $171.69, with a volume of 21504390 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $156.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.00.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $147.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 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.