Jefferies Financial Group Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $285.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $230.00 to $285.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho set a $295.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Westpark Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $240.76.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $245.35 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $221.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.96. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.