Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by analysts at Oppenheimer from $215.00 to $225.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the information services provider's stock. Oppenheimer's target price suggests a potential upside of 11.72% from the company's previous close.

GOOG has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.80.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $4.21 on Thursday, hitting $201.39. The stock had a trading volume of 7,083,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,773,088. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $203.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $189.03 and a 200-day moving average of $175.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,887 shares of company stock valued at $22,470,464 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 111.0% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 69,259 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,704,000 after buying an additional 36,439 shares during the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $216,000. Ashburton Jersey Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $23,681,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $7,594,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in Alphabet by 21.4% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,020 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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