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

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-four analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten 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 twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $200.74.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% in the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 12,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 59,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the first quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% in the first quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 32,798 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,065,000 after buying an additional 1,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 42,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,589,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $147.67 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.78. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.