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

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

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Five equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $103.71 and a 1-year high of $174.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $148.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.82 earnings per share 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 issued 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 Activity

In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Meritage Group LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 165.8% during the third 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 period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.