Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Research Coverage Started at Scotiabank

Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a sector outperform rating and a $212.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $186.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $166.35 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $162.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at $403,141,173.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,092 shares of company stock worth $35,644,136 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.