Wolfe Research Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Wolfe Research from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Roth Mkm decreased their target price on Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 87.5% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.