Wells Fargo & Company Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $168.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $141.00 to $168.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 7.69% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on GOOGL. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.00.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $156.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $102.63 and a 12 month high of $160.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,010,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 4,894.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares during the last quarter. 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.