Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Target Price at $200.56

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $200.56.

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.5% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 822,998 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $150,954,000 after purchasing an additional 97,618 shares during the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the second quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 13,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,511,000 after buying an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% during the second quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 17,106 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,138,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vantage Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $205,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $196.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.