Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.89 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.47. Alphabet has a one year low of $146.74 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. M1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $838,000. DSG Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $18,398,000. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $2,961,000. 111 Capital acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $3,599,000. Finally, Thoma Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,146,000. 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.