Royal Bank Of Canada Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $260.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $220.00 to $260.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.86% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.11.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $17.00 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $228.35. 40,945,099 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,186,887. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $192.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $230.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 222,210 shares of company stock valued at $41,742,155. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.