Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded down 0.1% on Thursday after BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on the stock from $222.00 to $215.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $160.40 and last traded at $161.75. 4,359,771 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 27,226,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.86.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.95.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,092 shares of company stock valued at $35,644,136 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $161.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.48%.

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.