Oppenheimer Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) had its price target raised by Oppenheimer from $215.00 to $225.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider's stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of GOOG traded up $2.97 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $205.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,059,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,222,196. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company's 50-day moving average is $189.70 and its 200-day moving average is $175.54. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $207.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 121,630 shares of company stock worth $22,258,133 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.0% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 69,259 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,704,000 after purchasing an additional 36,439 shares in the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $216,000. Ashburton Jersey Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $23,681,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $7,594,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,020 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

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.