Westpark Capital Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Westpark Capital restated their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $210.00 price objective on the information services provider's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.53 during trading on Thursday, 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 firm 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. The business's fifty day moving average price is $158.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.