Alphabet's (GOOGL) "Outperform" Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price objective points to a potential upside of 29.17% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.64.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $3.37 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $154.84. The company had a trading volume of 16,526,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,262,008. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $163.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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