Deutsche Bank Reissues Buy on Alphabet, Google Stock Price Holds Near $350
Google stock price slipped $0.51 to $349.83 on Tuesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a buy rating on Alphabet shares. The note adds fresh analyst support as the stock trades just below its 1-year high of $353.18, leaving holders with a narrow gap to that mark but still below the $369.67 consensus target.
Alphabet Ratings Stack Up
2 Strong Buy ratings, 46 Buy ratings and 4 Hold ratings now sit behind Alphabet, according to MarketBeat data, which puts the shares at an average rating of Moderate Buy. That mix points to broad support on the Street even after the stock has already climbed well above its 50-day moving average price of $310.19 and 200-day moving average price of $306.18.
$400.00 is the highest price target in the set cited Tuesday, after Evercore reaffirmed an outperform rating and lifted its target from $325.00 on Thursday, February 5th. Moffett Nathanson moved to $350.00 from $305.00 on the same day, Barclays raised its objective to $360.00 from $315.00, and Bank of America earlier increased its target to $370.00 from $335.00 while keeping a buy rating in January.
Alphabet Earnings Backstop
$2.82 in earnings per share gave analysts a fresh base when Alphabet last reported quarterly results on Wednesday, February 4th, beating the $2.57 consensus estimate by $0.25. Revenue came in at $113.83 billion versus $111.24 billion expected, while net margin reached 32.81% and return on equity hit 35.01%.
$4.23 trillion in market value, a 32.25 price-to-earnings ratio and a 2.13 price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio show the scale investors are assigning to the name, even as the stock remains sensitive to rating changes and target revisions. If Alphabet keeps posting earnings ahead of estimates, the current analyst cluster suggests the debate shifts from whether it deserves a premium to how much higher that premium can go above $349.83.
Pichai and O'toole Sales
32,500 shares sold by Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai on Wednesday, March 18th added another number for traders to weigh, with the sale priced at an average of $307.89 for a total value of $10,006,425.00. After the transaction, he directly owned 1,642,060 shares, a 1.94% decrease in his position.
617 shares sold by chief accounting officer Amie Thuener O'toole on Wednesday, April 1st, at an average price of $289.63, brought in $178,701.71 and left her with 10,093 shares. For investors watching Alphabet at $349.83, the share-price gap to the $369.67 consensus target is the nearest signpost after Tuesday's rating call, not the insider sales themselves.
