Stifel Nicolaus Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target to $174.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price target lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $154.00 to $174.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $155.72 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $103.27 and a 52 week high of $161.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $147.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DC Investments Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $115,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $184,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 82 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the period. qPULA Trading Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $279,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its position in Alphabet by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 115 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.