Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded at Pivotal Research

Pivotal Research upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $222.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, 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 target on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $201.14.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $165.86 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.