Barclays Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $250.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $235.00 to $250.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $195.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.48. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $235.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Trust raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 24,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,362,000 after buying an additional 3,810 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $135,000. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.2% in the second quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 6,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Midwestern Financial LLC IA bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $217,000. Finally, Tribridge Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $266,000. 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.