Alphabet Stock Is Rising Wednesday: What's Driving The Action?

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL shares are trading higher Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected financial results. Multiple analysts raised price targets on the stock following the print. 

• Q2 Revenue: $74.604 billion beat estimates of $65.42 billion
• Q2 EPS: $1.44 beat estimates of $1.20

Search revenue came in at $42.628 billion, Cloud revenue totaled $8.031 billion, and YouTube ads revenue hit $7.665 billion in the quarter. 

“There’s exciting momentum across our products and the company, which drove strong results this quarter. Our continued leadership in AI and our excellence in engineering and innovation are driving the next evolution of Search, and improving all our services,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google. 

Alphabet also announced a CFO transition. Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat will assume the newly created role of president and CIO, effective Sept. 1. Porat will continue to serve as CFO while the company searches for a successor.

See Also: 'Careful,' Jim Cramer Warns Investors On Alphabet: 'Trim' If Stock 'Goes Up' Post-Earnings

Analyst Assessment: 

• Keybanc analyst Justin Patterson maintained Alphabet with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $140 to $145.
• Needham analyst Laura Martin maintained Alphabet with a Buy and raised the price target from $115 to $140.
• Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett maintained Alphabet with a Buy and raised the price target from $132 to $163.

GOOG Price Action: Alphabet shares were up 5.94% at $130.08 Wednesday morning, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Hebi B.from Pixabay.