Investment Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Updates for Alphabet (GOOGL)

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) in the last few weeks:

• 4/19/2024 – Alphabet had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $175.00 to $180.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2024 – Alphabet had its price target raised by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. from $180.00 to $190.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2024 – Alphabet had its price target raised by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $158.00 to $170.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/16/2024 – Alphabet had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $150.00 to $166.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 4/10/2024 – Alphabet had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at BMO Capital Markets. They now have a $185.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $178.00.
• 4/10/2024 – Alphabet had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $175.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/10/2024 – Alphabet had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at JMP Securities. They now have a $160.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/10/2024 – Alphabet had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Citigroup Inc.. They now have a $168.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/3/2024 – Alphabet had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $144.00 to $141.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 3/22/2024 – Alphabet had its price target raised by analysts at Wedbush from $160.00 to $175.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 3/18/2024 – Alphabet had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $141.00 to $144.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $154.09. 32,589,839 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,139,635. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.63 and a 1 year high of $160.22. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $146.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the first quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the first quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.