Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives $211.53 Average Price Target from Analysts

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 43 analysts, with a 1-year target price averaging $211.53.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 15th.
• Alphabet's shares opened at $203.90, following a strong earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations, with an EPS of $2.31.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-three brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have given a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $211.5263.

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

GOOGL stock traded down $2.0780 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $199.4920. 15,550,535 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,345,770. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 sold 242,319 shares of company stock valued at $44,243,272 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Beddow Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the second quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Gimbal Financial increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the second quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the second quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Berkeley Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. North Berkeley Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.