Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $212.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by Citigroup from $190.00 to $212.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on GOOGL. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $167.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $179.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 122,388 shares of company stock worth $21,497,609. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares in 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.