Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Up 1.6% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price shot up 1.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $197.07 and last traded at $196.83. 5,411,985 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 15,832,311 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.80.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.87, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $189.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,997 shares of company stock valued at $22,492,464 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Alphabet by 182.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. 27.26% 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.