Alphabet’s (GOOGL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $210.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.65% from the stock’s current price.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $290.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $172.63 on Tuesday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $179.36 and a 200 day moving average of $160.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 124,488 shares of company stock worth $21,866,705. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 87.5% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.