Alphabet’s (GOOGL) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Piper Sandler in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $160.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.42. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $103.54 and a 1-year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.1% in the first quarter. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 2,785 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finer Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Finer Wealth Management Inc. now owns 36,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 132,521 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,125,000 after acquiring an additional 6,082 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.