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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $203.74.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded up $1.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $163.38. 22,123,799 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,633,090. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company's fifty day moving average price is $173.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $163.90. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,235,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 155,883 shares of company stock worth $26,705,320. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.