Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $205.00 to $215.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 13.67% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on GOOGL. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5 %

Alphabet stock traded down $2.89 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $189.15. 8,477,002 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,064,137. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $182.62 and a 200 day moving average of $172.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 2,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primoris Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. Primoris Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,585 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.