Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $230.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Wolfe Research from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

GOOGL opened at $191.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $179.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $77,000. NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,789,000 after purchasing an additional 11,834 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South grew its position in Alphabet by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 5,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in Alphabet by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 2,303 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by 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.