Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $191.01 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The company has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 153,053 shares of company stock valued at $27,559,701 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 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.