Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares were down 1.2% during trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $185.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $148.50 and last traded at $151.46. Approximately 12,846,108 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 28,198,261 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.33.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. DA Davidson cut their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.74.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5 %

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.77. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.