Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $210.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $193.66.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $182.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $115.35 and a 12 month high of $186.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after acquiring an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in Alphabet by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 214,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,956,000 after purchasing an additional 76,410 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $787,000. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.