Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $200.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $160.00 to $200.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 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. The company’s 50-day moving average is $147.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.39. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $103.54 and a 12-month high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,857,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. 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.