Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Barclays from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the information services provider's stock. Barclays's price target would suggest a potential upside of 21.71% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Westpark Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.32.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.91 during trading on Thursday, reaching $193.08. 8,805,736 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,842,242. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 35.22%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% 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. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted 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 period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.