Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $180.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target suggests a potential upside of 15.38% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.41.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $156.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $147.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.16. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $102.63 and a 52-week high of $160.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% 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.