Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $184.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $177.00 to $184.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $193.18 on Thursday. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $175.77 and its 200-day moving average is $172.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.