Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $225.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.95.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $191.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.40. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.