Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $195.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $195.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 25.00% from the company’s current price.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other reports. Susquehanna increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $156.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.22 and a 200-day moving average of $141.16. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $102.63 and a 52 week high of $160.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

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 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 directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 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 directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $577,908,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares during the period. Finally, NatWest Group plc lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 239.0% during the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 100,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,080,000 after buying an additional 71,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.