Raymond James Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Raymond James from $160.00 to $200.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.62. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $103.71 and a 52-week high of $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Independent Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.6% in the first quarter. Independent Family Office LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the first quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 8,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management grew its position in Alphabet by 12.0% in the first quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 1,186,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,759,000 after acquiring an additional 126,756 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 98,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,870,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management UK Ltd grew its position in Alphabet by 59.4% in the first quarter. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd now owns 54,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,381,000 after acquiring an additional 20,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% 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.