Wolfe Research Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Wolfe Research from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Susquehanna raised their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $103.54 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $147.85 and a 200-day moving average of $141.42. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4,894.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after acquiring an additional 5,336,359 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% 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.