Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at DZ Bank

DZ Bank reiterated their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note published on Thursday morning,MarketScreener Latest Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on GOOGL. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.33.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.5%

GOOGL stock opened at $299.66 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $306.42. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $262.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.40. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 225,174 shares of company stock worth $58,095,223. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $4,317,606,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.