Alphabet's (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $178.00 price objective on the information services provider's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $173.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.03.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $161.96. The company had a trading volume of 55,957,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,290,487. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50 day moving average price is $162.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 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.