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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the forty-one research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and seven have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $307.2222.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $683,642,180.16. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Payne Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $237,000. Investment Research Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $609,000. Cambria Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 8,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the third quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,892,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $382,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $315.12 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $271.07 and a 200 day moving average of $221.40. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $328.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.