JMP Securities Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by JMP Securities from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.51.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $171.29 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $162.43 and its 200-day moving average is $168.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $126.93 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 587.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.