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

Key Points

• Loop Capital raised its target price for Alphabet's stock from $165.00 to $190.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.82% from the stock's previous close, while maintaining a "hold" rating.
• Multiple analysts have issued revised target prices for Alphabet, with Citigroup raising its price to $225.00 and KeyCorp to $230.00, reflecting a consensus average target price of $211.53 among investors.
• Alphabet reported earnings per share of $2.31 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, and has seen recent increases in institutional investment, with Vanguard Group notably raising its position by 2.9%.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by Loop Capital from $165.00 to $190.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "hold" rating on the information services provider's stock. Loop Capital's price target suggests a potential downside of 2.82% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on GOOGL. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

GOOGL traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $195.51. The stock had a trading volume of 10,395,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,936,742. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $178.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. 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 worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of 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 worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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