Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $170.00 at Loop Capital

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Loop Capital from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $200.00 price target (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.95. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $103.71 and a fifty-two week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Meritage Group LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. 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.