Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $340.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $300.00 to $340.00 in a report released on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Melius Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.20.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $281.31 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $244.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $199.98. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $291.59. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the third quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 13,923 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Financial LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tandem Financial LLC now owns 4,156 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,010,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Flagstone Financial Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $240,000. Finally, Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $4,157,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.