Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $200.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $201.14.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $165.86 on Monday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.