Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $182.00 to $187.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.56% from the company’s current price.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.87.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.4 %

GOOGL traded up $9.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $178.85. 32,715,938 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,968,799. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $162.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $122.68 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 220,426 shares of company stock valued at $35,993,340. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY grew its holdings in Alphabet by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 24,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,752,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 176,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,727 shares during the period. Saratoga Research & Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.1% in the first quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 1,001,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $151,100,000 after acquiring an additional 160,884 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 9,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 21,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in 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.