Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given New $270.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $270.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GOOG. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $246.43 on Thursday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $256.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $220.84 and a 200-day moving average of $186.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total value of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,171,312.80. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.2% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. RDA Financial Network boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 115.7% in the second quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 214,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,031,000 after purchasing an additional 115,003 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.