Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Bank of America

Bank of America restated their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $210.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $194.63 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $174.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. The trade was a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 178,257 shares of company stock valued at $31,243,187 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.