Royal Bank Of Canada Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "Buy" on Alphabet, joining multiple analysts who have raised price targets, leaving Alphabet with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $369.67.
• Alphabet shares traded up to $349.52 (near its 52‑week high) after the company beat quarterly estimates—$2.82 EPS vs. $2.57 expected and $113.83B revenue vs. $111.24B—and the stock carries a $4.23 trillion market cap with a PE of 32.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by Royal Bank Of Canada in a note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $369.67.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $5.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $349.52. 3,352,967 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,713,486. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $309.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $305.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $147.84 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 11.53 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,037,294 shares of company stock valued at $94,216,897 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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