Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target Raised to $225.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price target upped by Pivotal Research from $215.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Pivotal Research currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GOOG. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $172.65 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $163.81 and its 200 day moving average is $170.43. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $128.11 and a twelve month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.