Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-eight have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $304.1020.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Alphabet from $247.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total value of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 222,396 shares of company stock valued at $54,105,275 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 121,707 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,821,000 after purchasing an additional 24,152 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 15,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,321,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners II LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 5,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $278.83 on Friday. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $291.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $251.23 and its 200 day moving average is $204.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. 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) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.