Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Receives $209.13 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $209.13.

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Summit Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% during the third quarter. Summit Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% during the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 99,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,120 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% during the third quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 23,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,888,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 8,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,344,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $175.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.00. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $134.80 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.