Loop Capital Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $170.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Loop Capital from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.24 on Wednesday. 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 market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $150.14 and a 200-day moving average of $142.32. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $103.97 and a 1-year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total value of $119,784.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,072,665.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares in 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.