Alphabet's (GOOG) "Buy (B)" Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Alphabet's stock has maintained a strong "Buy (B)" rating from Weiss Ratings, reflecting positive sentiment among analysts.
• The company has seen positive stock performance, trading at $260.89 with an average price target of $249.68 according to market analysts.
• Insiders have sold a significant number of shares recently, with CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares valued at approximately $8.13 million.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b)" rating reissued by stock analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on GOOG. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group set a $255.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $249.68.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $7.16 on Friday, hitting $260.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,905,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,334,047. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $236.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.53. Alphabet has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $262.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,202,258.92. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley lifted its position in Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Fairman Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 121.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently 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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