BMO Capital Markets Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $208.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its price target increased by BMO Capital Markets from $200.00 to $208.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider's stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $182.00. The company had a trading volume of 33,367,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,985,564. The company's fifty day moving average price is $170.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.07. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,443 shares of company stock worth $36,298,548 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.