Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold 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 $222.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $235.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Beddow Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the second quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Gimbal Financial boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the second quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the second quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Silver Coast Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, North Berkeley Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. North Berkeley Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.