UBS Group Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $204.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $200.00 to $204.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $167.00 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $179.04 and its 200 day moving average is $160.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,388 shares of company stock valued at $21,497,609 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 8,990,264 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,255,850,000 after buying an additional 136,951 shares during the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 3,984 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 3,539,314 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $494,407,000 after buying an additional 76,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 2,106 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% 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.