Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $182.86.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $168.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,565 shares of company stock worth $27,253,193. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the second quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% in the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is 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.