Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Earns Market Outperform Rating from JMP Securities

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a buy rating and set a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $201.35.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $163.95 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Equities 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 180,867 shares of company stock valued at $29,878,106. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.