Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns Buy Rating from Westpark Capital

Westpark Capital reiterated their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $210.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

Alphabet stock opened at $152.75 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $158.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.18. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after acquiring an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. 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.