Argus Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $200.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by Argus from $170.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on GOOGL. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $167.24. The company had a trading volume of 34,646,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,865,049. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $103.97 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The business has a fifty day moving average of $149.67 and a 200-day moving average of $142.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.