Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Target Price at $165.67

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $167.86.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $184.49 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.84. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $115.83 and a 52 week high of $187.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,012,608.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 142,344 shares of company stock worth $23,920,676. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% 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.