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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by BMO Capital Markets in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $230.00. BMO Capital Markets’ target price points to a potential upside of 32.38% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $151.08 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.77. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.