Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives “Outperform” Rating from BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets restated their outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $222.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $203.74.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

GOOGL traded up $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $162.21. 19,592,373 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,223,705. The company’s 50 day moving average is $177.20 and its 200-day moving average is $161.75. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total transaction of $252,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,039.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total value of $252,120.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $738,039.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 122,308 shares of company stock valued at $21,385,000. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently 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.