Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns "Outperform" Rating from BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $200.00 price target on the information services provider's stock, down from their prior price target of $230.00.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded down $4.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $146.63. The stock had a trading volume of 11,993,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,250,277. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Community Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $273,000. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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.