Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from 35 research firms, with 21 analysts recommending a buy and only 3 issuing a sell recommendation.
• JPMorgan Chase raised its target price for Alphabet from $232 to $260, while Jefferies Financial Group increased it from $230 to $285.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which reflects a 0.4% yield and an annualized rate of $0.84.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-five research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-one have issued a buy recommendation and six have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $241.00.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,338 shares of company stock valued at $59,062,683 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RDA Financial Network lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. Tower View Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,904,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the last quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $213,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 3,626,927 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $643,381,000 after buying an additional 15,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 115.7% during the 2nd quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 214,392 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $38,031,000 after buying an additional 115,003 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $237.49 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $256.70. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $226.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.

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