Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-seven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $413.1329.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Phillip Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $366.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s core AI and cloud story got another boost after reports highlighted strong earnings momentum and a rapidly expanding Google Cloud backlog, reinforcing the view that business demand remains healthy. Alphabet Just Beat Earnings by 94% and Doubled Its Cloud Backlog to $460 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, a notable vote of confidence from a major value investor that may support sentiment. Warren Buffett Just Tripled Down on the Stock Bill Ackman Is Selling
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI usage, adding another large enterprise customer to Alphabet’s cloud growth narrative. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI-related plans, including an “AI Control Roadmap” to address rogue AI agents, underscoring continued investment and leadership in AI infrastructure and safety. Google Devises Battle Plan to Combat Rogue AI Agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s AI talent war remains a focus after Noam Shazeer, a co-lead on Gemini, reportedly left for OpenAI, which may raise questions about retention but does not change the core business overnight. Google’s Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo issued a recall of about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter highway construction zones, adding regulatory and execution risk to Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold a meaningful block of shares, which can modestly weigh on sentiment even though insider sales are not always a bearish signal. SEC filing for John L. Hennessy sale

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,605. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its position in Alphabet by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its position in Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. 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.