Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Raised to “Hold” at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2 %

GOOG stock opened at $155.54 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’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 value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after buying an additional 11,646 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the first quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 62,917 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,580,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 67,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,450,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% 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.