Truist Financial Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $285.00

Key Points

• Truist Financial has raised Alphabet's price target from $225.00 to $285.00, maintaining a "buy" rating and suggesting a potential upside of 12% from the stock's last close.
• Consensus among analysts indicates that Alphabet has a Moderate Buy rating, with an average target price of $231.31, reflecting a variety of ratings from several research firms.
• In the past quarter, insider transactions have seen significant sales, with insiders selling a total of 258,088 shares, indicating potential fluctuations in insider confidence.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by Truist Financial from $225.00 to $285.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the information services provider's stock. Truist Financial's price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.86% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Susquehanna increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital increased their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.31.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $2.19 during trading on Monday, hitting $252.53. The stock had a trading volume of 32,240,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,953,800. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $210.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caldwell Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $23,386,000. Canal Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% in the second quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 55,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,855,000 after purchasing an additional 3,845 shares during the last quarter. Base Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.0% in the second quarter. Base Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,615 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Milestones Private Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $355,000. Finally, Troy Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.8% in the second quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 3,090,732 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $544,680,000 after purchasing an additional 763,225 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is 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.