Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $209.13.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $193.42 and its 200-day moving average is $176.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Syverson Strege & Co purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $208,000. WorthPointe LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. WorthPointe LLC now owns 2,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 11,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 17,176 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,270,000 after purchasing an additional 3,887 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in 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.