Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) with a price target of $220.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.38% from its previous close.
• Alphabet exceeded earnings expectations with a reported EPS of $2.31, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.15, and achieved a revenue of $96.43 billion for the last quarter.
• Multiple analysts have adjusted their price targets, with firms like Wells Fargo and Susquehanna increasing their targets significantly, reflecting a strong consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $220.00 price target on the information services provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.38% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

GOOGL stock opened at $199.32 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 222,219 shares of company stock worth $40,725,772 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 30.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 2,219 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $4,725,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 11,341 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,856 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 19,352 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,410,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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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