BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price raised by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $340.00 to $343.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.60% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Alphabet from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.18.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $296.72 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $286.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.35. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $328.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Delta Asset Management LLC TN grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 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.