Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.5% Higher

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $159.24 and last traded at $158.58. 6,818,099 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 30,212,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $174.00 to $172.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.64.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 228,839 shares of company stock valued at $32,835,757. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,900.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 217,154,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,770,809,000 after buying an additional 206,300,042 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111,197.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,420,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,036,178,000 after acquiring an additional 170,267,122 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 118,576,618 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,271,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499,107 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.