Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $186.00 Price Target at UBS Group

by · The Cerbat Gem

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGLFree Report) had its price target upped by UBS Group from $173.00 to $186.00 in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.03.

View Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $161.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.43. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGLGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Recommended Stories