Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $265.00

Key Points

• Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet's price target from $201.00 to $265.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.02% from the previous close, while maintaining a "neutral" rating.
• Other analysts have also increased their price targets for Alphabet, with Wolfe Research setting it as high as $290.00, indicating strong market confidence in the company's future performance.
• Alphabet reported a net margin of 31.12% for its last quarter, with earnings per share surpassing expectations, reflecting the company's robust financial health.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $201.00 to $265.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the information services provider's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.02% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $236.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50-day moving average is $226.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.84. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 276,338 shares of company stock valued at $59,062,683 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Breakwater Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the third quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 4,228 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Towerpoint Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $932,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is 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.

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