Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at Pivotal Research

05 Oct 2024, 01:12 by Amy Steele · The Cerbat Gem

Pivotal Research upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

GOOGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $201.14.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $167.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.14.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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