The Goldman Sachs Group Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

The Goldman Sachs Group reissued their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $210.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

GOOGL opened at $189.82 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $129.68 and a 12 month high of $195.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $171.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 198,623 shares of company stock valued at $34,413,006. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $53,000. 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.