Oppenheimer Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target to $210.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price objective hoisted by Oppenheimer from $205.00 to $210.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOG has been the subject of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $168.68 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $180.57 and a 200 day moving average of $161.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 144,888 shares of company stock valued at $25,699,259 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in Alphabet by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 4,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. 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.