Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1% Higher

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded up 1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $159.94 and last traded at $159.53. 4,345,712 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 21,914,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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 $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 198.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by 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.