Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Market Outperform Rating Reiterated at JMP Securities

19 Sep 2024, 06:30 by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets Daily

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $200.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on GOOGL. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and set a $206.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, August 29th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a neutral rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Argus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $201.08.

View Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $159.81 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $165.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.13. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 180,167 shares of company stock valued at $29,762,606 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $787,000. New Hampshire Trust boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,963,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Matisse Capital grew its holdings in Alphabet by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 16,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 2,026 shares during the period. Berkshire Money Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $359,000. Finally, Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP raised its position in Alphabet by 58.4% in the first quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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