Analysts Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) PT at $204.88

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $204.88.

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $176.97 on Tuesday. Alphabet has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.