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

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, seventeen have issued a buy recommendation and five have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $215.19.

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $196.43 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $178.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.53. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robbins Farley grew its position in Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% 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.