Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Market Perform Rating from JMP Securities

JMP Securities reissued their market perform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $207.08.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $192.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $182.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly 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 firm 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. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $563,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Tobam grew its holdings in Alphabet by 64.3% in the second quarter. Tobam now owns 24,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 9,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 8,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.