Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $280.00 at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America has raised its price target for Alphabet from $252.00 to $280.00, reflecting a potential upside of 10.54% from its previous close, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Other analysts, including Citigroup and Cantor Fitzgerald, have similarly raised their target prices for Alphabet, contributing to a consensus target price of $253.74.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with significant share sales by executives, including the CAO who sold 2,778 shares at an average price of $245.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by analysts at Bank of America from $252.00 to $280.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the information services provider's stock. Bank of America's price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.54% from the company's previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Alphabet from $201.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $253.74.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

GOOGL opened at $253.30 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.96. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $231.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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