Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 47 ratings firms, with 33 buy recommendations and an average 1-year price target of $240.76.
• The company reported earnings of $2.31 per share, exceeding estimates and generating $96.43 billion in revenue for the last quarter.
• Alphabet recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 0.3%.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-three have issued a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $240.7561.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $201.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $250.43 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $222.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.72. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.00. 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Breakwater Investment Management boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 4,228 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Beddow Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Gimbal Financial boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 2nd 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. Finally, Silver Coast Investments LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in 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 period. 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.

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