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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald from $196.00 to $201.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the information services provider's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price target suggests a potential upside of 4.05% from the company's current price.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson cut their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $193.18. 39,738,342 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This 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. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.