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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $167.00 to $175.00 in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the information services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential upside of 8.05% from the company's previous close.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.03.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $2.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $161.96. The company had a trading volume of 55,957,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,290,487. The company has a 50 day moving average of $162.18 and a 200-day moving average of $175.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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.