Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Coverage Initiated at Wedbush

Investment analysts at Wedbush started coverage on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $445.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 28.57% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on GOOG. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp set a $445.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $383.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $346.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $184.73 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $366.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $336.65. The company has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its position in Alphabet by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.