Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target Raised to $220.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price objective increased by Barclays from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $172.65 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $163.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $128.11 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Cullinan Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.4% in the first quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 124,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,975,000 after buying an additional 9,612 shares during the last quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.9% in the 1st quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC now owns 4,040 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 89,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,564,000 after purchasing an additional 13,927 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,091 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $927,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 22.8% in the first quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 43,876 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,939,000 after buying an additional 8,156 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% 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.