Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $265.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target boosted by KeyCorp from $230.00 to $265.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on GOOGL. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $195.79 and its 200-day moving average is $175.48. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $235.76. The firm has a market cap 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This 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 valued at $49,208,380. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st 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 period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. 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.