Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given New $245.00 Price Target at Pivotal Research

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its target price increased by research analysts at Pivotal Research from $225.00 to $245.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Pivotal Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 25.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $185.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of GOOG traded up $3.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $194.81. The company had a trading volume of 23,004,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,061,959. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is 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.