Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $333.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by Daiwa Capital Markets from $233.00 to $333.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.10.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $278.83 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.56. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $291.59.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.