Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

GOOGL stock opened at $161.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.