Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $250.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by JMP Securities from $225.00 to $250.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $195.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.48. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $235.76. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,780,875,000 after buying an additional 503,306 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.