NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Google (GOOG) - Get Report are rising, slightly up 0.12% to $576.03 in pre-market trading Friday, after the global technology company had its price target raised to $682 from $629 by analysts at Citigroup this morning.

Citigroup upped its price target while maintaining a "buy" rating on shares, saying valuation is attractive at current levels.

The firm also says concerns over the search giant's competitive position are likely overblown, and believes the company's search business is "far from dead."

Citi added that Facebook's (FB) - Get Report people-based approach does pose a "real threat," but thinks Google can close the data gap.

The Mountain View, CA-based search engine focuses its business around search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, enterprise, and hardware products.

Insight from TheStreet's Research Team:

Google is a core holding of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. During the most recent weekly roundup, this is what Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager & Jack Mohr, Director of Research - Action Alerts PLUS had to say about the stock:

The stock gained ground this week on little to no news. Two weeks ago it announced a new product, and rumors emerged that it was testing a product designed to compete with Apple Pay. The new product is for medical search, which will produce streamlined responses to medical-related Google searches (which currently make up 5% of total queries). The relevant medical facts that will be returned include typical symptoms and treatments, the commonality and/or urgency of the condition, how contagious it is, and more.

The other report that emerged was that Google was testing a new service dubbed "Plaso" that allows Android phone users to make a touch-free payment at various retailers. The move is clearly an attempt to keep pace with the fast-moving Apple Pay system, and we will likely receive more information on it in coming weeks and months. We also look to this year's Mobile World Congress in early March can be a potential catalyst; we will look for the company to elaborate on creating its own wireless network and advances it has made with host-card emulation (HCE) in partnership with Visa (V). We continue to see great value in Google shares at 18.5x forward estimates (slightly below the historical number) with it double- digit earnings, revenue growth and industry dominance. We now look for any news about the cash hoard and whether it will announces a distribution of some sort -- something hinted at in the recent conference call. Our target is $600.

- Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr, 'Weekly Roundup' originally published 2/27/2015 on ActionAlertsPLUS.com.

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