Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Phillip Securities

Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.51.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $169.24 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $162.49 and a 200-day moving average of $169.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $127.90 and a 52 week high of $191.75.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 232,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,086,723. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% during the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.