Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $195.00 at Morgan Stanley

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $195.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $158.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $103.54 and a 52 week high of $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $147.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.39.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Chico Wealth RIA bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $330,000. Summit Global Investments increased its position in Alphabet by 67.7% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 241,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,598,000 after acquiring an additional 97,466 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 18.1% during the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its position in Alphabet by 6.3% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 5,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, David J Yvars Group increased its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. David J Yvars Group now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.