Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $195.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $195.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna increased their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

GOOGL stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $103.71 and a twelve month high of $174.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after buying an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% during the first quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantum Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the third quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.