Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $199.75.

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $166.18 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $159.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 163,270 shares of company stock valued at $26,553,563. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.