Wedbush Has Optimistic Outlook of Alphabet FY2024 Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Stock analysts at Wedbush increased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Alphabet in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now forecasts that the information services provider will earn $8.02 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $7.58. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $7.85 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.13 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.03 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.15 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.26 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.45 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.89 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.85 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on GOOGL. TD Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Finally, China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.51.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

GOOGL opened at $171.29 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $162.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a one year low of $126.93 and a one year high of $191.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.4% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,274,184,000 after acquiring an additional 418,204 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.