Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given New $216.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its target price increased by Citigroup from $212.00 to $216.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

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

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $172.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $128.11 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $163.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 29,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,967,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 5,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $863,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc increased its stake in Alphabet by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc now owns 2,744 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $864,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Objective Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $750,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.