JMP Securities Reaffirms Market Outperform Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $176.06 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $115.35 and a 12 month high of $176.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $157.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.22, for a total value of $3,897,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,258,011 shares in the company, valued at $391,132,665.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.22, for a total transaction of $3,897,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,258,011 shares in the company, valued at $391,132,665.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,511 shares of company stock worth $41,234,695 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% during the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 87.5% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 140 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.