Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on GOOGL. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.63.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $243.10 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.01. 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 one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $256.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $218.05 and a 200 day moving average of $184.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This trade represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 225,469 shares of company stock valued at $46,586,752 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beddow Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Gimbal Financial boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, North Berkeley Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. North Berkeley Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.