Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Target Price at $200.56

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $200.56.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. This trade represents a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 65.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,375,512,000 after buying an additional 1,632,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $189.70 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $175.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.73. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $202.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.