Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $190.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $187.00 to $190.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $195.55 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 150,022 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,399,000 after acquiring an additional 8,436 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $888,000. Joule Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 13,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392 shares during the last quarter. GenWealth Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.