Wolfe Research Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective increased by Wolfe Research from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $103.71 and a 52-week high of $174.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in 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.