Wolfe Research Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $230.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Wolfe Research from $220.00 to $230.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.92% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $191.79 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.50. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.