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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $200.74.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. UBS Group set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $151.08 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 71,147 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,002,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 38,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,953,000 after purchasing an additional 6,904 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 71,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,060,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the first quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 315,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,860,000 after purchasing an additional 10,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the first quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 4,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.