Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $330.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 0.60% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $328.04 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $340.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $315.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 222,409 shares of company stock valued at $68,564,532. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.