Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) had its target price raised by Oppenheimer from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the information services provider's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of GOOG traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $162.06. 15,930,380 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,304,462. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.34. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.