Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” by Pivotal Research

Pivotal Research upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Guggenheim upped their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a buy rating and set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $201.35.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $162.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.02. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $191.75.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 193,725 shares of company stock worth $31,933,031 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Davis Capital Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 35.4% during the third quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 2,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 95,512 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,840,000 after buying an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,841 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $1,328,000. Finally, Sage Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $234,000. 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.