Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-four brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have given a buy recommendation and five have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $205.49.

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 118,497 shares of company stock valued at $20,837,150 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

GOOGL stock opened at $159.07 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $167.87 and its 200 day moving average is $176.28. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.