Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $200.56.

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&G PLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 172.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,254,000 after buying an additional 57,810 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,624,000 after buying an additional 5,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $193.17. 20,731,024 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,929,918. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.53. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm's revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.