Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on GOOGL. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $189.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $179.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,519 shares of company stock valued at $27,734,316 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.