JMP Securities Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target hoisted by JMP Securities from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.33.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $235.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $195.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.48.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.