Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $265.00 at Cantor Fitzgerald

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by Cantor Fitzgerald from $201.00 to $265.00 in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $244.15 on Monday. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $227.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $189.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were 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 owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 276,338 shares of company stock valued at $59,062,683. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,062,000 after buying an additional 9,900 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 472,855 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,122,000 after buying an additional 3,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Matauro LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.1% during the first quarter. Matauro LLC now owns 4,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in 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.