Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives $199.75 Average PT from Analysts

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the forty ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-six have issued a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $199.75.

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $152.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,365,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,782,802. 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 cap of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The business's 50-day moving average is $158.93 and its 200-day moving average is $175.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 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%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.