Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $196.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target upped by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $174.00 to $196.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 13.99% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

GOOGL stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $103.54 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Chico Wealth RIA acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $330,000. Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 67.7% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 241,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,598,000 after buying an additional 97,466 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 5,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, David J Yvars Group boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. David J Yvars Group now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.