Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective raised by Oppenheimer from $185.00 to $200.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $161.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $162.18 and a 200-day moving average of $175.43. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $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 buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.