Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $232.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $200.00 to $232.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.32.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

GOOGL opened at $193.18 on Thursday. 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. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.93. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares in 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.