Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $225.00 at Susquehanna

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Susquehanna from $220.00 to $225.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a positive rating on the information services provider's stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $177.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.01 on Thursday, reaching $193.18. 39,738,342 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The firm has a market cap 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $175.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.93. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised 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 acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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.