Alphabet’s (GOOGL) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a $171.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.9%

GOOGL stock opened at $178.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $166.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.