Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $175.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $167.00 to $175.00 in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $161.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by 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.