Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $220.00 at Wedbush

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price boosted by Wedbush from $210.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.87 on Monday. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $180.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total value of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.