Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $205.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price raised by Wedbush from $175.00 to $205.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q2 2024 earnings at $1.85 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.78 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.96 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.25 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $147.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.39. Alphabet has a one year low of $103.54 and a one year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the sale, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after buying an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,908,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares during the period. Finally, NatWest Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 239.0% in the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 100,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,080,000 after buying an additional 71,057 shares during the period. 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.