Royal Bank of Canada Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $204.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $200.00 to $204.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.95% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $167.28 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $179.22 and a 200-day moving average of $160.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.96% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 122,388 shares of company stock worth $21,497,609. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,932 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,631,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 81.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 37,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,776,000 after buying an additional 16,707 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 69,390 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,639,000 after acquiring an additional 3,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.