Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $220.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $199.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $186.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.