Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Research Coverage Started at Wedbush

Wedbush started coverage on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $445.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $470.00 price target (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $416.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $346.12 on Thursday. Alphabet has a one year low of $184.73 and a one year high of $404.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $366.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $336.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 76.2% during the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,865,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,886,000 after purchasing an additional 806,681 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $658,000. Financial Advisors Network Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 7,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,618,000 after buying an additional 3,616 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.