Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after HSBC raised their price target on the stock from $335.00 to $370.00. HSBC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $321.58 and last traded at $319.63. 40,072,922 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 36,804,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $315.81.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 27th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.06.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 193,628 shares of company stock valued at $50,942,622. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Matisse Capital lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $274.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.