Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) PT Raised to $205.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by Oppenheimer from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $148.36 and its 200 day moving average is $141.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $103.71 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.82 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. 40.03% 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.