Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 0.6% Higher

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) rose 0.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $152.27 and last traded at $152.10. Approximately 4,418,656 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 23,018,373 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their target price 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $146.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,378 shares of company stock valued at $35,461,377 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Totem Point Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.0% during the first quarter. Totem Point Management LLC now owns 3,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Somerville Kurt F boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 118 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $2,564,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 53.2% in the 1st quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 144 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 3,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,412,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.