Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target Raised to $187.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $182.00 to $187.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $172.65 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $128.11 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $163.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cullinan Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.4% during the first quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 124,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,612 shares in the last quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.9% in the first quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC now owns 4,040 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.5% during the first quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 89,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,564,000 after purchasing an additional 13,927 shares during the period. Exchange Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,091 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $927,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 43,876 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,939,000 after purchasing an additional 8,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.