Piper Sandler Reiterates Overweight Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target suggests a potential upside of 19.77% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.35.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $166.99 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $162.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.02. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,385,565. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 193,725 shares of company stock valued at $31,933,031 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harvest Investment Services LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $104,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 86,696 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,111,000 after purchasing an additional 4,477 shares during the last quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC now owns 69,743 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,742,000 after purchasing an additional 21,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $89,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.