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

Key Points

• Loop Capital raised its price target for Alphabet's stock from $190.00 to $260.00 while maintaining a "hold" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 0.58% from the current price.
• Insider selling included significant transactions by executives, with John Kent Walker selling over 23,000 shares valued at approximately $4.6 million, indicating a 35.65% decrease in his position.
• Alphabet's stock has a current market cap of $3.13 trillion, with a recent quarterly earnings report showing earnings per share of $2.31, exceeding expectations.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Loop Capital from $190.00 to $260.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a "hold" rating on the information services provider's stock. Loop Capital's target price indicates a potential upside of 0.58% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Melius Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $263.20.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $258.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $235.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.45. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $257.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,804,000. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH now owns 126,972 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the period. Hudock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the third quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 4,950 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,203,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.0% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 1,004,874 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $244,285,000 after buying an additional 65,688 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 43.3% in the third quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 26,334 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,402,000 after buying an additional 7,959 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.