UBS Group Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target to $192.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) had its price target increased by UBS Group from $186.00 to $192.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the information services provider's stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.40.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $186.17. 13,215,254 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,514,633. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day moving average price is $173.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently 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.