Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $196.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $174.00 to $196.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $147.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $103.54 and a 12-month high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 87.5% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Meritage Group LP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.