Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives $205.90 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-two analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-one have assigned a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $205.90.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This trade represents a 1.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded down $3.09 on Friday, reaching $172.49. 32,504,649 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,145,184. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $165.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.