Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $155.00 to $200.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $103.71 and a 12-month high of $174.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.62.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Independent Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Independent Family Office LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 8,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 1,186,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,759,000 after buying an additional 126,756 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 98,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,870,000 after buying an additional 2,533 shares during the period. Finally, Privium Fund Management UK Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd now owns 54,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,381,000 after buying an additional 20,158 shares during the period. 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.