Pivotal Research Begins Coverage on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pivotal Research started coverage on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $215.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOG has been the topic of several other research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $183.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.21 on Tuesday. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $163.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,927,257.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 273,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,510,000 after acquiring an additional 24,610 shares during the period. 360 Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $289,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Alphabet by 134.0% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 751,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $105,851,000 after purchasing an additional 430,174 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 404,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,976,000 after purchasing an additional 89,284 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.