JMP Securities Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price boosted by JMP Securities from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.51.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $174.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $162.17 and its 200 day moving average is $168.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $122.68 and a twelve month high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% in the first quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 24,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 176,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,727 shares during the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management grew its holdings in Alphabet by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 1,001,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $151,100,000 after acquiring an additional 160,884 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 9,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% during the first quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 21,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.