Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOG. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $176.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $123.93 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.30.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 220,426 shares of company stock valued at $35,993,340 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 106,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,851,000 after acquiring an additional 6,529 shares during the last quarter. Gordian Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gordian Advisors LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Family Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Family Asset Management LLC now owns 5,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. RTD Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% during the third quarter. RTD Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,266 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.4% during the third quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.