Stifel Nicolaus Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target to $174.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price objective boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $154.00 to $174.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

Alphabet stock opened at $157.46 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.72. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $103.27 and a 1-year high of $161.70. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank grew its position in Alphabet by 33.0% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 1,826 shares during the period. CNB Bank grew its position in Alphabet by 6.6% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after buying an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 8,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.