Citigroup Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $190.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target increased by Citigroup from $168.00 to $190.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Friday. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $103.71 and a 52-week high of $174.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $148.36 and its 200 day moving average is $141.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. M. Kraus & Co raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Aire Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Planning LLC now owns 9,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.