Piper Sandler Cuts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective decreased by Piper Sandler from $206.00 to $200.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $201.76.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $154.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $168.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Alphabet by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 214,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,956,000 after purchasing an additional 76,410 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $787,000. New Hampshire Trust grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,963,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 16,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 2,026 shares during the period. Finally, Berkshire Money Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $359,000. Hedge funds and other 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.