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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was downgraded by investment analysts at JMP Securities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $220.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 14.71% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $191.79 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $172.40. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.