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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $174.00 to $196.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday. Susquehanna raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $103.71 and a 52-week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Meritage Group LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 165.8% during the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during 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.