Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) fell 2.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $341.13 and last traded at $346.12. Approximately 21,726,342 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 21,493,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $353.81.
Alphabet News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $470.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.44.
Alphabet Price Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $366.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.23.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341 shares during the period. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,060,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 190,654 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,827,000 after purchasing an additional 15,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Violich Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $106,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.
About Alphabet
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.
Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.
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