Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $196.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $174.00 to $196.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Friday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $103.71 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Independent Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Independent Family Office LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 8,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,285,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 1,186,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,759,000 after purchasing an additional 126,756 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 98,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,870,000 after purchasing an additional 2,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management UK Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 59.4% in the 1st quarter. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd now owns 54,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,381,000 after purchasing an additional 20,158 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.