Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Increased to $200.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target boosted by Barclays from $173.00 to $200.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average of $141.39. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $103.54 and a 12 month high of $174.71. 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:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors 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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.1% during the first quarter. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the first quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 2,785 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finer Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Finer Wealth Management Inc. now owns 36,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,489,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the first quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 132,521 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,125,000 after buying an additional 6,082 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.