JMP Securities Reaffirms Market Perform Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

On Monday, JMP Securities reiterated its "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), as reported by Benzinga. This reaffirmation suggests that the analysts believe Alphabet's stock will perform in line with the general market.

Analyst Reports on Alphabet

In addition to JMP Securities, several other equity analysts have shared their insights regarding Alphabet. For instance, on October 30th, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price for Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 while maintaining a "market perform" rating. Similarly, Wedbush lifted their price target from $210.00 to $220.00 on January 6th, assigning an "outperform" rating to the stock.

The Goldman Sachs Group also showed confidence in Alphabet by stating a "buy" rating with a target price of $210.00 on December 12th. Following suit, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and classified it as "overweight" in a research report dated December 18th. Roth MKM also revised their target from $206.00 to $212.00 with a "buy" rating.

MarketBeat reports that a total of nine analysts hold a "hold" rating, thirty have assigned a "buy" rating, and four have issued a "strong buy" rating for Alphabet’s stock, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $209.82.

Recent Stock Performance

On the same Monday as the announcement from JMP, shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL declined by $6.45, settling at $193.76. The trading volume for the day was approximately 18.4 million, which was below the average volume of about 23.6 million. Alphabet's stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.57.

The financial health of Alphabet is reflected in its ratios; the company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Currently, Alphabet has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion and a P/E ratio of 25.73. The stock also shows a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. Its 52-week range has seen lows of $130.66 and highs of $202.29.

Recent Earnings Report

Alphabet recently reported its quarterly earnings on October 29th. For the quarter, they achieved an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.12, surpassing the analysts' expectations of $1.83 by $0.29. The company demonstrated strong profitability with a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%.

For the reported quarter, Alphabet generated revenue of $88.27 billion, exceeding analysts' forecast of $72.85 billion. In contrast, the company reported a lower EPS of $1.55 during the same period the previous year. Analysts are anticipating that Alphabet will report an EPS of 8.02 for the current fiscal year.

Insider Trading Activity

In related news, on December 12th, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares at an average price of $194.22, amounting to approximately $291,330. Following this transaction, Hennessy now holds 23,324 shares valued at about $4.53 million. This sale led to a 6.04% decline in his ownership of the stock, as disclosed in filings with the SEC.

Another insider, Chief Accounting Officer Amie Thuener O'Toole, sold 1,367 shares at an average price of $170.41 on December 2nd, totaling around $232,950. Following this sale, she owns 23,515 shares, valued at approximately $4.01 million, a decline of 5.49% in her ownership.

During the last three months, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock, worth approximately $24.37 million, and insiders currently retain 11.55% of Alphabet's stock.

Investors and Hedge Funds

Several institutional investors have made significant transactions involving Alphabet shares. For instance, International Assets Investment Management LLC saw an extraordinary increase of 43,005.6% in their holdings during the third quarter, now owning about 18.74 million shares valued at 31.09 billion dollars.

SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings increased by 587.4% in the same quarter, bringing their total to approximately 10.69 million shares valued at about 1.77 billion dollars. Additionally, Assenagon Asset Management saw a 116.4% growth in their stake, now owning around 8.67 million shares worth approximately 1.44 billion dollars.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their holdings by 7.7%, now owning about 63.67 million shares valued at 10.56 billion dollars after acquiring an additional 4.57 million shares. Lastly, Wulff Hansen & Co. enhanced their position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter, now holding about 4.43 million shares worth approximately 807.70 million dollars.

Currently, institutional investors and hedge funds own about 40.03% of Alphabet's stock.

About Alphabet Inc.

Alphabet Inc. operates primarily through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments, providing a wide array of products and platforms to users in markets across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. The Google Services segment encompasses products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

stock, investment, analysis