Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $206.82.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $193.95 on Friday. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $201.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 280.0% during the second quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. 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.