Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Cut to $192.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $225.00 to $192.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.63.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.68 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $161.96. 55,957,898 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,290,487. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 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.