Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target at $209.13

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $208.65.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Kera Capital Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 78.5% in the 1st quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 29,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,649,000 after acquiring an additional 13,088 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.0% in the first quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,711 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $13,531,000. Modus Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 39,673 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,198,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 243,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,036,000 after buying an additional 4,714 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $158.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $179.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.56. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $148.20 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.