Wolfe Research Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Wolfe Research from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.92% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $191.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $201.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.