Cantor Fitzgerald Expects Stronger Earnings for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Alphabet in a research report issued on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now anticipates that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $8.06 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $7.96. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.01 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.82.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $195.49 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $181.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Denver PWM LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% in the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.