Stifel Nicolaus Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Loop Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $195.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $183.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.