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

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $199.75.

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $173.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.