Alphabet’s (GOOGL) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $160.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

GOOGL stock opened at $166.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $103.71 and a twelve month high of $174.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independent Family Office LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 25.6% in the first quarter. Independent Family Office LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the first quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 8,539 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,285,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.0% in the first quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 1,186,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,759,000 after acquiring an additional 126,756 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 98,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,870,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 59.4% in the first quarter. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd now owns 54,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,381,000 after acquiring an additional 20,158 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.