BMO Capital Markets Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $222.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 40.85% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $157.61 on Monday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $167.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,367 shares of company stock worth $30,016,931 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.