Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $175.00 to $177.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the information services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.51% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $2.43 on Tuesday, hitting $174.36. 40,396,876 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,636,014. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $169.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position 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 valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position 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 valued at $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.