Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 23.31% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $162.20. 2,996,855 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,698,458. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $184.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.56. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $146.08 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.