Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $184.11.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Pivotal Research started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $164.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.91. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $954,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 243,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 8,509 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 267,512 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,701,000 after acquiring an additional 3,935 shares during the period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 16,865 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,377,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,319,757 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $890,643,000 after acquiring an additional 146,054 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% 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.