Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $210.00 to $217.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider's stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $1.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $193.18. The company had a trading volume of 39,738,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $175.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.