Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $330.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $270.00 to $330.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.20.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $281.31 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $244.00 and its 200-day moving average is $199.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $291.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total transaction of $145,752.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,242,778.72. This trade represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,780,875,000 after buying an additional 503,306 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.