Zacks Research Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the information services provider will earn $7.89 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $7.55. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $7.99 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.99 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.96 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.08 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.15 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.36 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.55 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $2.28 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.38 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.69 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $10.07 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $169.49 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $168.93 and its 200-day moving average is $171.90. 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 $129.40 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $1,400,000. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 14,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,385,000 after buying an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,936 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,831,000 after buying an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% in the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 10,401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,739,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,510,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.