Piper Sandler Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $195.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by Piper Sandler from $185.00 to $195.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $161.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $162.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.43. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.