Truist Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by analysts at Truist Financial from $220.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 31.49% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.51.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $171.11 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $122.68 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.79.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 219,744 shares of company stock valued at $35,878,764. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $222,000. Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 28,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,695,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,451,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 1,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 167,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,840,000 after acquiring an additional 7,396 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.