Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Increased to $180.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reissued a buy rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $158.41.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $154.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $146.26 and a 200 day moving average of $140.54. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $102.63 and a fifty-two week high of $160.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.