Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by analysts at Bank of America from $200.00 to $210.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 13.05% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $203.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.68.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $185.76 on Friday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA increased its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the second quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 842,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $151,313,000 after purchasing an additional 18,161 shares during the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the second quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 9,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Bosman Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20.4% in the second quarter. Bosman Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,879,000 after purchasing an additional 5,663 shares during the period. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 46.0% in the second quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,108 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spectrum Strategic Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 38.8% in the second quarter. Spectrum Strategic Capital Management LLC now owns 19,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,508,000 after acquiring an additional 5,568 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.