Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1.2% during trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $185.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $148.50 and last traded at $151.46. 12,846,108 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 28,198,261 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.33.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.74.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Community Bank N.A. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $273,000. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,014,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.