JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $232.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $212.00 to $232.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.72% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $195.42 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $172.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total value of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Alphabet by 91.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,450,599,000 after buying an additional 3,777,527 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.