Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns Buy Rating from Bank of America

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Bank of America in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $210.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.08% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on GOOGL. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $175.14 and its 200-day moving average is $171.42. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. The trade was a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,257 shares of company stock worth $31,243,187 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd 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 during the period. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $53,000. 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.