Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.4% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price shot up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $201.40 and last traded at $198.05. 8,378,121 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 23,768,885 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $187.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 122,887 shares of company stock valued at $22,470,464. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.