Wedbush Equities Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Stock analysts at Wedbush lowered their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now forecasts that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $1.75 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.78. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $7.65 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.93 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.27 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis.

GOOG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $168.68 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $180.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.78. Alphabet has a one year low of $121.46 and a one year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 144,888 shares of company stock valued at $25,699,259 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.