William Blair Issues Positive Outlook for Alphabet Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Investment analysts at William Blair lifted their FY2024 earnings estimates for Alphabet in a report issued on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now forecasts that the information services provider will post earnings of $7.94 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $7.63. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $7.85 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.05 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.98 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.19 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.27 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.54 EPS.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.51.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

GOOGL stock opened at $171.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $126.93 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. 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 previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. 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 this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.