Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $203.94.

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

GOOG opened at $163.85 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $164.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.35. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.