Stifel Nicolaus Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target to $174.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price target increased by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $154.00 to $174.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.91% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GOOG. Raymond James boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $156.88 on Tuesday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $103.27 and a 12-month high of $161.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Red Door Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,801,000 after buying an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Avalon Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Avalon Capital Management now owns 125,115 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,050,000 after buying an additional 16,170 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 179.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 14,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 9,023 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% 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.