Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $174.38.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $179.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $118.68 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $180.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 146,988 shares of company stock worth $26,068,355. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $175,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,424 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $147,246,000. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 3,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.