Alphabet FY2024 EPS Forecast Lifted by Cantor Fitzgerald

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald increased their FY2024 EPS estimates for Alphabet in a research report issued on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now expects that the information services provider will earn $8.06 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $7.96. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.02 per share.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $195.39 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The business has a 50 day moving average of $183.71 and a 200-day moving average of $174.52. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 9,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,816,000 after buying an additional 2,424 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 3,243 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Private Client Services LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 10,099 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 77,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,791,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.