Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target Raised to $240.00 at Scotiabank

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its target price upped by Scotiabank from $212.00 to $240.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $201.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $203.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $187.39 and a 200-day moving average of $175.23. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $33,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently 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.