Alphabet’s (GOOGL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a report issued on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on GOOGL. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Melius Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.57.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $251.46 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $256.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total value of $145,752.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at $1,242,778.72. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 210,872 shares of company stock valued at $46,980,865. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $31,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.