Barclays Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target increased by Barclays from $173.00 to $200.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their price objective on Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Meritage Group LP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% during the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 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.