Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 0%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 0% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $159.01 and last traded at $158.29. Approximately 6,242,282 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 29,671,053 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.71.

Alphabet Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 $70.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smith Anglin Financial LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC now owns 6,801 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,026,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 5,497.3% in the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 157,957 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,840,000 after acquiring an additional 155,135 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management raised its position in Alphabet by 5.9% in the first quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 106,384 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,057,000 after acquiring an additional 5,895 shares during the period. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 70,988 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,714,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Finally, Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.4% in the first quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 150,315 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,687,000 after purchasing an additional 17,769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.