Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Rating Lowered by JMP Securities

JMP Securities lowered shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $220.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on GOOGL. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.44.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $191.79 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $180.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% 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.