Brokerages Set Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) PT at $324.81

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $324.8077.

A number of analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the sale, the director owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $5,253,567.20. This represents a 0.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EHP Funds Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $328,000. FreeGulliver LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $984,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.5% during the third quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 134,010 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $32,638,000 after purchasing an additional 26,387 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 367,218 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $89,436,000 after buying an additional 2,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $345,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $279.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $292.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $257.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

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.