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

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $200.56.

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,590,960. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock valued at $31,358,687 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IMS Capital Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 33,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,664,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 55,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 26,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,508,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $962,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,181,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $192.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $176.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.