Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price target increased by research analysts at UBS Group from $186.00 to $192.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the information services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 3.95% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.40.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $184.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $173.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.75. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,559 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.