Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $215.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $185.00 to $215.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 25.94% from the stock’s current price.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $14.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $170.72. 49,616,376 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,449,654. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $147.22 and its 200-day moving average is $141.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $103.54 and a 52 week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. 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. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Chico Wealth RIA purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $330,000. Summit Global Investments grew its position in Alphabet by 67.7% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 241,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,598,000 after buying an additional 97,466 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 18.1% during the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 5,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, David J Yvars Group lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. David J Yvars Group now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.