Zacks Research Brokers Raise Earnings Estimates for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Zacks Research increased their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $7.89 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $7.55. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $7.99 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.99 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.96 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.08 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.15 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.36 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.55 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $2.28 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.38 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.69 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $10.07 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

GOOG has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $177.33 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $129.40 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.