Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Now Covered by Analysts at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $240.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Loop Capital restated a hold rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Raymond James increased their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $200.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

GOOGL opened at $177.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $118.22 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $178.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $158.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at $403,141,173.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 124,488 shares of company stock valued at $21,866,705. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the first quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the second quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M. Kraus & Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.