Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 30 research firms, with 18 analysts issuing buy ratings and only 3 rating it as a sell.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annual yield of 0.3%.
• Alphabet reported a 13.8% increase in revenue year-over-year for the last quarter, bringing in $96.43 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $227.5625.

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $249.85 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $253.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $207.12 and a 200 day moving average of $180.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $4,298,572,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.