Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $315.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective increased by Moffett Nathanson from $305.00 to $315.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,MarketScreener reports. Moffett Nathanson currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.84.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $319.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $267.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.64. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $328.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,253,567.20. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 225,072 shares of company stock valued at $58,074,027 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.9% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elgethun Capital Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.8% in the first quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 8,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.