Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on the stock from $305.00 to $315.00. Moffett Nathanson currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $317.75 and last traded at $318.07, with a volume of 15795310 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $299.66.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital increased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $5,253,567.20. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 225,174 shares of company stock valued at $58,095,223 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Smart Money Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.4% in the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,181 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.4% during the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 799,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $123,578,000 after buying an additional 26,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrity Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $496,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $265.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

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.