Sanford C. Bernstein Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $180.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Sanford C. Bernstein from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up previously from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. 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 research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

GOOGL stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $103.71 and a 12 month high of $174.71. 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. 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. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Robbins Farley boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. Finally, Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is 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.