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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $178.00 price objective on the information services provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price indicates a potential upside of 17.82% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.25 on Wednesday, hitting $151.08. The stock had a trading volume of 32,930,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,329,951. The company's 50-day moving average is $165.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.77. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 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.