Alphabet’s (GOOGL) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $210.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $200.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.97% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $9.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $179.54. The company had a trading volume of 37,858,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,993,289. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $122.68 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.54, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.