Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 2% during trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $175.00 to $177.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $179.44 and last traded at $177.89. Approximately 13,772,203 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 31,619,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.36.
Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.13.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on GOOGL
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%
The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $169.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.69.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.
About Alphabet
(
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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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