JMP Securities Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $220.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by JMP Securities from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.51.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $171.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $162.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.01. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $126.93 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 230,244 shares of company stock valued at $37,776,954 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by 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.