Cantor Fitzgerald Begins Coverage on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $190.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Argus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Mizuho raised their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a buy rating and set a $206.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $202.81.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $171.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,032 shares of company stock valued at $29,854,224 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.