Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $196.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $174.00 to $196.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $171.95 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $147.85 and its 200 day moving average is $141.39. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $103.54 and a 12-month high of $174.71.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.