Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Rating Reiterated by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $206.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $201.14.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $162.06 and its 200-day moving average is $167.00. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $355,743,153.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at $355,743,153.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the third quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,174 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.3% during the third quarter. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. now owns 4,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $769,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 7,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,968,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.