Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $205.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lifted by Wedbush from $175.00 to $205.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q2 2024 earnings at $1.85 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.78 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.96 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.25 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $103.54 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The company has a market capitalization 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. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. 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 posted $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 in the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.