Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $210.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.76.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $162.93 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $161.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 28,524 shares in the company, valued at $4,385,565. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 220,426 shares of company stock worth $35,993,340 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69,788 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,574,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 334,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $55,449,000 after acquiring an additional 15,320 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 2,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Intergy Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the third quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Point Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the third quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 52,019 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,627,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.