Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $295.00 at Moffett Nathanson

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective hoisted by Moffett Nathanson from $230.00 to $295.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Moffett Nathanson currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on GOOGL. Westpark Capital raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $245.79 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $214.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.