Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Receives $210.88 Average Price Target from Analysts

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $203.94.

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $163.85 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.77. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.