Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Increased to $190.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target upped by Citigroup from $168.00 to $190.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 21.79% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up from $178.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.41.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $156.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $102.63 and a 1-year high of $160.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after buying an additional 4,664 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% during the third quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,908,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NatWest Group plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 239.0% during the fourth quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 100,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,080,000 after buying an additional 71,057 shares in the last quarter. 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.