Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) PT at $205.90

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-two analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $205.90.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $175.30 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $166.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.28. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 319,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,765,168.06. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. This represents a 1.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Cutler Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.