Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded up 1.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $201.40 and last traded at $198.05. 8,378,121 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 23,768,885 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.00.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 121,630 shares of company stock valued at $22,258,133 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.