DA Davidson Issues Negative Outlook for Alphabet Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Stock analysts at DA Davidson cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Alphabet in a report released on Tuesday, April 15th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria now expects that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $1.96 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.00. DA Davidson currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.90 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Alphabet’s FY2025 earnings at $8.43 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.49 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $151.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $165.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.88. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 47,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,900,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $154,000. Dean Investment Associates LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 23.1% in the third quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 2,025 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,009 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,821,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.