Alphabet Inc. to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $1.85 Per Share, Wedbush Forecasts (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush raised their Q2 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the information services provider will post earnings of $1.85 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.67. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $6.82 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q3 2024 earnings at $1.78 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.96 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.25 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $162.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $103.71 and a 52 week high of $174.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.79.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,289 shares of company stock valued at $36,724,534 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.