Jefferies Financial Group Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $220.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an overweight rating and issued a $200.00 price target (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and set a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $195.06.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.9 %

GOOGL stock opened at $185.57 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $118.22 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 122,988 shares of company stock worth $21,015,755. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 214,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,956,000 after purchasing an additional 76,410 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $787,000. Finally, CKW Financial Group lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.